N. 0. POLYGON A CE/E. 1075 



1058. P. glabrum, Willd., h.f.b.i., v. 34 ; Roxb 

 334. 



Vern. : — Sauri arak, jioti (Santal) ; Larborna, bih agui, bib 

 langaai, patharua (Assam); Rakta rohida sheral (Bomb.); 

 Atalaria (Tarn.). 



Habitat : — In ditches, etc., from Assam, Sylhet and Bengal 

 Westward to the Indus and Sindb, and southward to Burma, 

 ascending the Himalaya to 6,400ft. in Garhwal. 



Glabrous herbs. Stem2-5ft., stout, slightly branched, some- 

 what swollen above nodes, shining purplish-red. Leaves usual- 

 ly large, 3-JOin., linear-lanceolate, much tapering at both ends, 

 entire, glabrous or slightly rough with minute prickles, minute- 

 ly glandular ; midrib prominent, broad, lateral veins numerous, 

 pellucid. Petiole very short (i-Jin ), stout ; stipules about lin., 

 membranous, veined, truncate, not ciliate. Flowers bright-pink, 

 numerous all the year round on short glabrous pedicels ; racemes 

 l-3in., erect; bracts short, truncate, glabrous. Perianth i-Jin., 

 long, pink or whie, not glandular ; segments broadly oval, acute. 

 Stamens usually 8 (sometimes fewer), shorter than perianth. 

 Styles 2 divergent, sometimes 3, united above the middle ; 

 stigmas globose. Nuts black shining, iin. in diam., usually 

 rounded and flattened, 3-angled in the 3 styled flowers. 



It is difficult to separate this from smooth forms of P. Persicaria, of which 

 it is the tropical representative ; it is, however, much larger, less branched, 

 with more attenuate leaves brown when dry, and normally ciliate bracts and 

 stipules. (Hooker.) 



Uses : —An infusion of the leaves is used by the country 

 people of Bombay to relieve pain in colic (Dymock). In Chutia 

 Nagpur, it is employed as a cure for " stitch in the side," 

 and in Assam as a remedy for fever (Watt). 



1059. P. persicaria, Linn , h.f.b.i., v. 35. 



Habitat :— Western Himalaya, Kashmir, etc. 



Use :— It may be put to the same uses as the other species 

 of this genus. 



Annual, erect or ascending, leaves subsessile, elliptic-oblong 

 or lanceolate eglandular, stipules usually hirsute and ciliate, 



