156 



POLYGON ACEiE. 



Valley northwestward to Monterey; Corral Hollow, Brewer; Tracy, 

 Ben). Cobb; Stockton, Parry. Apr. 



6. RUMEX L. 



Weed-like perennial herbs. Leaves alternate, the petioles with 

 entire somewhat sheathing stipules. Flowers greenish, reddish or 

 yellowish, crowded and commonly whorled in panicled racemes. 

 Calyx of 6 sepals, nearly distinct, the 3 inner larger, petal-like, 

 accrescent in fruit and connivent over the achene, 1 or more of them 

 usually bearing a callous grain or tubercle on the back; the 3 outer 

 spreading or reflexed. Stamens 6. Styles 3, short; stigmas tufted. 

 Achene triangular. Embryo lateral. (Old Latin name used by 

 Piiny.) 



Emex australis Steinh., native of South Africa and Australia, is 

 adventive on our sea-beaches, acc. to Greene; flowers unisexual; 

 pistillate calyx in fruit thick and almost woody and the outer lobes 

 thorn-like. 



Flowers dioecious; inner sepals without callous grains, not reticulated and not 



longer than the achene: leaves hastate.— Sokrels. . . I. R. Acetosella. 

 Flowers perfect or andro-moncecious; inner sepals commonly reticulated; in 

 fruit becoming much onger than the achene; leaves never hastate.— Docks. 

 Inner fruiting sepals entire (or only low-denticulate) and 



Not grain-bearing, 3 t<> 6 lines long 2. R. oecidevtatis. 



All grain-bearing, or 1 or 2 nak< d, 1 to 2 l / 2 lines long; pedicels jointed near 

 the base, recurved or geniculate. 



Leaves strongly undulate, elliptical to oblong-lanceolate 



3. R. crUpus. 



Leaves slightly undulnte, mostly oblong or ovate . . . 4. R. conglomeratus. 



Leaves plane, lanceolate 5. R. salic folius. 



Inner fruiting sepals with very prominent slender teeth or bristles, grain- 

 bearing. 



Perennial; flowers in dense whorls, the whorls remote. 

 Flowering branches divaricate; pedicels jointed in the middle 



6. R. pulcher. 



Flowering branches sub-erect; pedicels jointed near the base 



7. R. obtusifolius. 



Annual; whorls mostly spicate-crowded; pedicels jointed near the base. 



8. R. persicarinidcs. 



1. R. Acetosella L. Sorrel. Stems tufted, commonly 9 in. high; 

 radical and lower leaves hastate, the upper reduced or the branches 

 leafless and ending in the reddish (pistillate) or yellowish (staminate) 

 panicle; pedicels capillary, as long or twice as long as the flowers; 

 staminate flowers 1 line long or less, the pistillate ^ as long. 



Introduced. Very common in the seaward Coast Range region, 

 propagating freely by creeping roots and often hard to exterminate. 



2. R. occidentalis Wats. Western Dock. Erect, glabrous, 

 stout, and nearly simple, commonly 3 or 4 ft. high; leaves somewhat 

 fleshy, oblong-ovate or ovate, truncate or subcordate at base, mostly 

 narrowed toward the apex, the blade 16 in. long or less, the petioles 

 of the radical leaves longer than the blade; panicle strict, mostly very 

 dense, 1 ft. long or more, leafless or with a few small leaves below, 

 rosy in fruit; pedicels 3 to 6 lines long, obscurely jointed below the 

 middle; inner fruiting sepals broadly ovate, subcordate. 



Marshes bordering the bays. 



