490 



ORDER CII. POLYGON AC EM. 



d. Flowers in racemose panicles. Leaves subcordate or sagittate. 



13. P. sagitta'tum, (Mich.) Stem slender, climbing, angled, retror^ely 

 serrate. Leaves nearly sessile, glabrous, sagittate. Flmvers axillary 

 and terminal, in small compact heads, on long peduncles. Stamens 8. 

 Styles 3-cleft. - Perianth white. — $. July — Aug. Wet grounds. 



14. P. arifo'lium, (Mich.) Stem retrorsely aculeate, prostrate, flex- 

 uous, sometimes climbing, square, pubescent. Leaves hastate, on long 

 petioles, pubescent. Spikes few-flowered, terminal and axillary. Sta- 

 mens 6. Styles bifid. — 0. Aug. — Sept. Wet grounds. 



15. P. convol'vulus, (Mich.) Stem long, climbing, angular, some- 

 what rough. Leaves petioled, hastate-cordate, with spreading lobes. 

 Flowers in axillary racemes. Stamens 8. Style 3-cleft. Perianth 

 •whitish or reddish. — -0. July — Aug. In fields. 



16. P. scan'dens, (Mich.) Stem climbing, glabrous, bright purple, an- 

 gled. Leaves broad-cordate, with the margins and veins slightly sca- 

 brous. Flowers in axillary racemes, large. Stamens 8. Styles 3. Pe- 

 rianth winged, white, or reddish. — 0. July — Aug. Shady woods. 



P. dumetosum. 



17. P. fagopy'eum, (L.) (From fagus, beech, and puros, wheat, from 

 the resemblance of the nut to the beech-nut. The English name is from 

 the German buche, beech, compounded with wheat, making Buckwheat, 

 or Beechwheat.) An annual plant, with triangular-cordate leaves. 

 Flowers in paniculate racemes, or corymbose, white or greenish. 



Fagopyrum esculentum, Moench. 



Genus III.— RU'MEX. L. 6—3. 

 (From rumo, to suck ; the Eomans sucked the leaves to allay thirst.) 



Perianth 6-leaved, in 2 rows. Stamens 6. Styles 3. Nut 

 triquetrous, inclosed by the three interior valves of the perianth. 

 Stic/mas many-cleft. 



1. R. sanguineus, (L.) Stem erect. Radical leaves large, entire, cor- 

 date-lanceolate, variegated with red veins. Flotoers in small, distant 

 whorls. Perianth persistent, marked on the back with red grains. — 

 If. June — July. Infields. 3 feet. BUody Dock, 



2. R. pul'cher, (L.) Radical leaves oblong, with a sinus on each 

 side; cauline leaves entire. Perianth toothed. — 2f. June — July. In- 

 troduced. 



3. R. verticilla'tls, (L.) Leaves long, lanceolate, narrow, acute, 

 with cylindrical sheaths. Flowers whorl ed, in simple racemes. Leaves 

 of the perianth entire, each bearing a vein on the back. Pedicels thick, 

 half an inch long. — if. June — July. Wet grounds. 1 — 2 feet. 



Swamp Dock. 



4. R. Britan'nicus, (L.) Stem branching, tinged with red, furrowed. 

 Leaves broad-lanceolate, Hal, alternate. Flowers in leafless whorls, form- 

 ing a compound terminal panicle, polygamous. — If. April — May. 

 Swamps. 2 — 3 feet. 



6. R. cris'pus, (L.) Stem erect, angled. Radical leaves lanceolate, 



