Polygonum. | “LX. POLYGONACE. 387 
all distinct, and the lower ones often distant and axillary. Perianths, 
and often the bracts and stipules or other parts of the plant, dotted 
with small glands, and the whole plant is more or less acrid or biting 
to the taste. 
In wet ditches, and on the edges of ponds and streams, throughout 
Europe and central and Russian Asia to the Arctic regions. Abundant 
in England and Ireland, more rare in the Scotch Highlands. Fl. summer 
and autumn. 
11. P.minus, Huds. (fig. 879). Slender P.—Very near P. Hydropiper, 
and probably a mere variety. It is usually a smaller plant, with rather 
smaller flowers, in closer, although slender spikes, and has neither the 
glandular perianths nor the biting flavour of that species. 
In ditches and waste places, on roadsides, &c., over the whole range 
of P. Hydropwer. In Britain, not so common as that species, and 
scarcely extends beyond the middle of Scotland. Fl. summer and autumn. 
The smaller, most distinct form is usually found in drier situations. 
When growing in richer, wet situations, it can only be distinguished 
from P. Hydropiper by the absence of the glands onthe perianth. This 
form has been published under the name of P. mite, Schrank, and is 
confined to England. It is not improbable that further observation 
_ may show that this and the last three Polygonums are all varieties of 
one species, ; 
LXIV. THYMELEACEA, THE DAPHNE FAMILY. 
A family limited in Britain to the single genus Daphne. 
The exotic genera associated with it differ chiefly in the number 
of the stamens and in the number and form of the divisions of 
the perianth, or in the consistence of the fruit. 
The species are rather numerous in southern Africa and Australia, 
including among the latter the Pimeleas of our greenhouses, with a few 
from the tropics or the northern hemisphere. 
I. DAPHNE. DAPHNE. 
Shrubs, or, in some exotic species, trees, with alternate or rarely 
opposite entire leaves, and no stipules; the flowers either coloured or 
sometimes green, either lateral, or, in exotic species, terminal. Perianth 
inferior, deciduous, with a distinct tube and a spreading 4-cleft limb. 
Stamens 8, inserted in the top of the tube. Ovary free within the tube, 
1-celled, with a single pendulous ovule. Style exceedingly short, with 
a capitate stigma. Fruit a berry or drupe, the endocarp forming a 
slightly crustaceous, 1-seeded stone. 
A considerable genus, widely spread over the northern hemisphere, 
with a few species extending into the tropics. 
Leaves deciduous. Flowers purple, below the leaves . : . L. D. Mezerewm. 
Leaves evergreen. Flowers green, axillary 3 3 ; . 2 D. Laureola. 
Several exotic species are cultivated for the ened or the perfume of 
their flowers, especially D. odora, D. pontica, D. Cneorum, &c. 
1. D. Mezereum, Linn. (fig. 880). Mezereon.—An erect, glabrous 
shrub, of 1 to 3 feet, with few, erect branches, each terminated by a 
