38G 



rOLYGONACE^E. (BUCKWHEAT FAMILY.) 



long as the slender recurved pedicels, one or all more or less prominently grain- 

 hearing. (11. divaricatus, Ell) — Waste ground, around dwellings. Introduce d. 

 June - Aug. \— Stem 2° - 3° high. Lowest leaves 1° - 1^° long, G' - 9' wide, 

 slightly erenatc, and wavy on the margins. 



6. R. pulcher, L. Branches rigid, spreading ; lowest leaves cordate- 

 oblong, somewhat riddle-shaped, the upper lanceolate, acute ; whorls remote ; 

 valves longer than the thick pedicels, ovate-oblonjr, rigid, strongly toothed, more 

 or less prominently grain-hearing. — Around Charleston, Elliott. Introduced. 

 June and July. 



7. R. maritimus, L. Puhcseent ; stem low, diffusely branched ; leaves 

 lanceolate, wavy-margined, the lower ones somewhat cordate or hastate at the 

 base, the upper linear; whorls compactly crowded in leafy spikes ; valves small, 

 bristly on the margins, nearly covered by the large grain. (R persicarioidc.s, /,.) 

 — Sea-shores, North Carolina, and northward. Aug. and Sept. Qp — Stems 

 G' - 12' high. Spikes yellowish. 



* * Flowers dioecious. Herbs u-itJi sour juice. 

 -t- Calyx not enlarged in fruit. 



8. R. AcetOSella, L. Root creeping; stems low, erect or ascending; 

 leaves oblong, lanceolate, or linear, entire or hastate-lobed ; panicle slender, leaf- 

 less ; whorls scattered, few-flowered ; valves ovate, grain less, oppressed, to the 

 achenium. — Old fields and sterile soil, common. June and July. \ — Steins 

 G' - 12' long. Leaves and flowers small. 



*r t" Inner calyx-lobes dilated in fruit. 



9. R. hastatulus, Baldw. Stems clustered, erect; leaves glaucous, lance- 

 olate or linear, or the lowest oblong, entire or hastate-lohed ; whorls few-flowered, 

 scattered, or the upper ones crowded ; valves round-cordate, entire, membrana- 

 ceous, reticulated, red or white, grainless. — Dry sands, along the coast and in 

 the middle districts, Florida to South Carolina. May and June. — Stem I°- U° 

 high. Leaves 1' -2' long, the upper ones mostly entire. 



2. POLYGONELLA, Michx. 



Flowers perfect or dieeeiously polygamous. Calyx corolla-like, deeply 5-partcd 

 or 5-sepalous; the three inner sepals mostly enlarging and enclosing the 3-angled 

 achenium. glandlcss. Stamens 8: anthers roundish. Stigmas 3, capitate. Em- 

 bryo straight, or nearly so, in the centre, or at one side of the mealy albumen. — 

 Smooth and commonly glaucous herbs or shrubs, with slender branching stems, 

 small alternate leaves, and small flowers in spiked racemes. — Sheaths smooth. 

 Bracts imbricated, top-shaped, mostly 1 -(lowered. Pedicels nodding in fruit 



$ 1. EurOLYOONELLA. Filaments all aide, subulate: stigmas nearly sessile: 

 Flowers diaciously polygamous : embryo in the centre of the albumin. 



1. P. parvifolia, Michx. Shrubby and diffusely branched at the base; 

 leaves wedge-shaped or linear-spatuhue, vertical ; those on the sterile shoots im- 

 bricated ; sheaths obliquely truncate, pointless ] racemes short, very numerous, 

 somewhat crowded in an oblong or corymbose panicle; bracts truncate; flowers 



