156 



POLYGONACEiE. 



Rumex. 



6-8 inches long and 1-2 inches wide, often crenulate-waved on the margin. Panicle a 

 foot or more in length, consisting of numerous racemes with their whorls crowded. Flowers 

 perfect. Pedicels of the fruit 4-6 lines long, at length reflexed. Inner sepals not dilated 

 at the base, slightly veined. Achenium light brown, acute at each end. Embryo applied to 

 one side of the albumen. 



Swamps and borders of streams in the western part of the State, mostly in shady places ; 

 frequent. I am not positive that this is the R. Britannicas of Linnaeus, but it is the plant so 

 considered by some of our botanists. 



** Acetosa, Campt. Flowers dioecious, usually minute : inner sepals without tubercles. 



5. Rumex Acetosella, Linn. Sheep Sorrel. Field Sorrel. 



Lower leaves lanceolate-hastate , the lobes entire, acute ; flowers dioecious ; inner sepals 

 without tubercles, ovate, entire. — Linn. sp. 1. p. 338 ; Engl. hot. t. 1674 ; Michx. ft. 1. 

 p. 216 ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 249 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 144 ; Torr. fl. 1. p. 380 ; Beck, hot. 

 p. 304 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 236. 



Perennial. Stem 6-12 inches high, slender, simple or paniculately somewhat branched 

 above, angular and furrowed. Radical and lower leaves 1-2 inches long : petioles often 

 longer than the lamina. Ochrea? lacerated. Racemes paniculate : whorls 6 - 8-flowered. 

 Sterile flowers with the ovary abortive : anthers very large. Fertile flowers similar in form 

 to the sterile. Achenium neai - ly as broad as long, closely invested with the outer valves of the 

 perianth. Embryo in the axis, nearly straight : cotyledons narrowly elliptical. 



Sterile fields, road-sides, etc. May - August. The whole plant is agreeably acid, and, 

 like many other species of the genus, particularly of this section, contains the binoxalate of 

 potassa. 



