468 FLORA. OF TEXAS. 



somewhat cordate or hastate at the base, the upper linear ; 

 tvhorls coDipactly crowded in leafy spikes ; valves small, 

 bristly on the margins, nearly covered by the large grain. 

 (E. persicarioides, L.) Sea-shores. August and Septem- 

 ber. Stems 6-12' high ; spikes yellowish. Annual 



♦* Flowers dmdous ; herbs with sour juice. 

 t Calyx not enlarged in fruit. 



E. AcETOSELLA, L. Root Creeping ; stems low, erect or 

 ascending; leaves oblong, lanceolate, or linear, entire or 

 hastate-lobed; panicle slender, leafless; tvhorls scattered, 

 few-flowered ; valves ovate, grainless, appressed to the ache- 

 niurn. Old fields and sterile soil, common. June and 

 July. Stems 6-12' long ; leaves SLud. flowers small. Peren- 

 nial. 



+t Inner calyx-lobes dilated in fruit. 



E. HASTATULUS, Baldw. Stems clustered, erect ; leaves 

 glaucous, lanceolate or linear, or the lowest oblong, entire 

 or hastate-lobed; whorls few-flowered, scattered, or the 

 upper ones crowded ; valves round-cordate, entire, mem- 

 branaceous, reticulated, red or white, grainless. Dry sands, 

 along the coast. May and June. Stem 1°-1 J° high ; leaves 

 l'-2' long, the upper ones mostly entire. 



POLYGONELLA, Michx. 



Flotoers perfect or dioeciously polygamous ; calyx corolla- 

 like, deeply 5-parted or 5-sepalous, the three inner sepals 

 mostly enlarging and inclosing the 3-angled achenium, 

 glandless ; stamens S; anthers roundish; stigmas Z, ca^i' 

 tate ; embryo straight, or nearly so, in the center, or at one 

 side of the mealy albumen. — Smooth and commonly glau- 

 cous herbs or shr^cb-'i, with slender branching stems, small 

 alternate Ze<7?;ecS, and small flowers in spiked racemes; 

 sheaths smooth ; bracts imbricated, top-shaped, mostly 

 1 -flowered ; pedicels nodding in fruit. 



I 



