io8 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



Leaves, alternate or opposite ; long and narrow, some broad 

 at base, and 3-cut or lobed near the base ; the upper sessile, 

 the lower with slender petioles. Time, summer and autumn. 



Flowers, of 2 sorts, the staminate with a 3- to 5-parted calyx ; 

 the pistillate with 2 large bractlets underneath, united at their 

 bases. Stem, branched, i to 3 feet tall. 



Flowers grouped in round clusters, axillary, in the upper leaves, 

 and forming, along the top of the stem, leafless spikes. 



Homely, weed-like annuals, known better in the species A. ha- 

 j/a/a, with slender-stemmed triangular leaves, more or less irreg- 

 ularly toothed. 



35 



Sea-beach Atriplex {A. arenhrid) is 6 to 18 inches high, slen- 

 der-stemmed, erect or somewhat prostrate, with short peti- 

 oled or sessile, oblong or linear leaves, which are rounded or 

 pointed at apex, the flowers in clusters in the axils. Whole 

 plant pale green, silvery-scurfy. 



36. Coast Jointweed 



Polygon4lla articu/ata. — Family, Buckwheat. Color, light 

 rose, almost white. Leaves, jointed at base, sheathing the 

 stem, very narrow, alternate^ Time, September. 



A beautiful plant, with thread-like stems and leaves, growing 

 in sandy soil. The flowers (very small) are on jointed, slender 

 stalks, in small racemes, 1 to 3 inches long. The leaves sheath- , 

 ing the stems with thin, naked coverings, called ocreae, show that 

 the plant is a buckwheat. The flowers have no corolla, but a 

 5-parted calyx. They are so minute that they can only be studied 

 through a magnifying-glass. Plant 6 to 12 inches tall. It grows 

 in pure sand along the railroad or by way-sides, not far from the 

 coast from Maine to Florida. Nothing can be more dainty than 

 this fine, soft-foliaged little thing. 



37. Golden Dock 

 Riimex persicarioides. — Family, Buckwheat. Color, green. 



