POLYGONACE^. 



713 



ranean to the Arctic Circle, ascending high into mountain-ranges, and 

 reappearing in the southern hemisphere. Extends all over Britain, 

 and has long been in cultivation. Fl. summer. 



10. Sheep-sorrel Dock. Rumex Acetosella, Linn. 



(Fig. 859.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1674. Sheep -sorrel.) 



A slender plant, from 3 or 4 inches to 

 nearly a foot high, acid like the Sorrel 

 D. t and often turning red. Leaves 

 all narrow-lanceolate and linear, and 

 some at least of every plant sagittate, 

 the lobes of the base usually spreading 

 and often divided. Flowers small, dioe- 

 cious, in slender terminal panicles. Seg- 

 ments of the perianth small, broadly 

 ovate or orbicular, entire, and thin ; the 

 inner ones closing over the nut as in the 

 other species, but scarcely enlarged ; 

 the outer ones erect, not reflexed as in 

 the Sorrel D. 



In pastures, especially in dry open 

 places, over the greater part of the globe 

 without the tropics, penetrating far into 

 the Arctic regions, and ascending high 

 upon alpine summits. Abundant in 

 Britain. Fl.from spring till autumn. 



Fig. 859. 



II. OXYRIA. OXYRIA. 



A single species, with the habit of a small Dock of the Sorrel group, 

 separated from that genus because the perianth has only 2 inner and 

 2 outer segments of the perianth, and the ovary has only 2 stigmas. 



1. Kidney Oxyria. Oxyria reniformis, Campd. (Fig. 8G0.) 



(Rumex digynus, Eng. Bot. t. 910.) 



A glabrous perennial, seldom above 6 inches high, of an acid flavour. 

 Leaves chiefly radical, cordate- orbicular or kidney-shaped, usually 

 less than half an inch, but sometimes an inch broad. Stem slender and 



VOL. II. R 



