POLYGONUM ARIFOLIUM. 



HALBERT-LEAVED TEAR : THUMB. 



Octandria Trigynia, Linn. Polygonez, Juss. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 





Calix 5-parted, petaloid, persistent. Seed 1, superior, 3-sided, covered by the conni- 

 vent calix. (The number of the styles and stamina uncertain.) 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Flowers distinct, hexandrous, with the style 2-cleft ; spikes few-flowered ; stem re- 

 trorsely aculeate ; leaves hastate. Mich. 



A debile annual plant, attaining in favourable situations a height 

 of three or four feet, rarely live. Stem carmine-red, four-sided, beset 

 on the angels with rigid prickles, presenting from above downward 

 or backward, so as to tear the fingers when any attempt is made to 

 take hold of it, hence the common name. Leaves varying in size, be- 

 ing from four to five inches long on the lower part, and decreasing 



