Amaranthus. 



AMARANTHACE.E. 



145 



into a petiole about as long as the lamina. Glomerules 8 - 12-flowered, roundish, loose. 

 Bracts lanceolate. Sepals 5, spatulate, mucronate or nearly acute. Utricle very slightly 

 corrugated, opake. Seed lenticular-ovoid. 



Suburbs of Albany ; doubtless introduced. August - September. I am by no means 

 positive as to the name of this plant, but it agrees better with the description of A. deflexus 

 than of any other. All North American Amaranths need a thorough revision. 



I have another species of this section, collected by my friend Mr. J. Carey in a swamp 

 near Whitehall ; but owing to the confusion that exists in the genus, I am unable to determine 

 it without better materials than I can command at present. The following are its characters : 

 Stem a foot or more long, smooth, branched. Leaves oblong- or ovate -lanceolate, rather 

 obtuse. Flowers in dense roundish axillary glomerules, arranged on numerous branches which 

 resemble interrupted leafy spikes. All the flowers in my specimen are fertile. Fertile fl. 

 Calyx of two unequal lanceolate acute sepals. Styles as long as the ovary, almost plumose. 

 Utricle thin, smooth. Seed roundish-lenticular. 



Order LXXXV. POLYGONACE^E. Juss. The Buckwheat Tribe. 



Calyx herbaceous, often petaloid, of 3 - 6 sepals. Stamens 3 — 12, inserted on 

 the calyx. Ovary with a single orthotropous ovule at the base : styles 2 — 4. 

 Fruit achenium-like, compressed or triangular. Embryo curved or nearly 

 straight, usually applied to the outside of, but sometimes within, the albumen. 

 — Herbs or rarely undershrubs, with alternate entire leaves, and usually 

 sheathing stipules (ochrese). Inflorescence various. 



1. POLYGONUM. Linn.; Meisn. monogr. gen. Polyg. 1826. knotweed. 



[ Named from the Greek, polys, many, and gonu, a knee or joint; the stem having numerous joints.] 



Calyx mostly 5 -parted, petaloid, persistent, erect in fruit. Stamens 3-9. Styles 2-3. 

 Achenium covered with the persistent calyx. — Annual or perennial herbs, with membrana- 

 ceous sheathing stipules, and the flowers (not involucrate) in spikes, racemes, panicles or 

 axillary : pedicels jointed. 



[Flora — Vol. 2.] 19 



