76 
POLYGONUM BISTORTA. 
Spec. Char. Stalk perfectly simple, with a rough spike.. 
Leaves ovate, decurrent upon the petiole. 
This species of Polygonum* is a perennial plant, indigenous to 
Britain, and is found growing in moist meadows, in various parts of 
the country, flowering in May or June ; in the North of England it 
is known by the name of Easter giant, and used as a pot-herb ; 
Bistort is also frequently met with in the neighbourhood of London, 
about Battersea, Hampstead, Highgate, &c.t 
The root of the Bistort is about the thickness of a finger, peren- 
nial, rugose and crooked, andlfurnished with numerous small fibres, 
of a firm texture; externally of a blackish brown, internally of a 
reddish or flesh colour; the stalk is simple, solid, round, smooth, 
swelling at the joints, is enclosed by the sheaths of the stipulae, and 
rises to about two feet in height; the radical leaves are ovate, in- 
clining to heart-shaped, pointed, and stand upon long winged foot- 
stalks 3 the upper leaves embrace the stem, and are narrower and 
somewhat undulated ; the flowers are of a flesh colour, and stand 
upon short foot- stalks, and terminate the stalks in oblong close 
spikes ; the bracteae, or floral leaves, are membranous, withered, and 
each encloses two flowers ; the corolla (or calyx) is small, tubular, 
and divided at the brim into five obtuse, concave segments, the base 
of which contains several small, red, nectarious glands ; the filaments 
are eight, tapering, white, and longer than the corolla; the antherae 
are of a purplish colour, lying across the filaments ; the germen is 
triangular, of a deep red ; the three styles, the length of the fila- 
ments, supporting small round stigmata ; the seeds are of a brown 
colour, triangular, and remarkably glossy. 
Sensible Qualities, &c. Every part of this plant manifests 
a considerable degree of stipticity to the taste : it has no remark- 
able smell ; the root is considered to be one of the most powerful of 
the vegetable astringents ; " the infusion is of a pale yellowish red, very 
stiptic and austere ; green vitriol {i. e. sulphate of iron) strikes it 
black immediately, and salt of tartar renders it thick. The satu- 
rated decoction is of a brown red, opaque, and changes a large pro- 
portion of a solution of green vitriol to a violet colour."^ The as- 
* Thirty-one species of Polygonum are known and cnltivated in our gardens ; ton 
of which are natives of Britain. Hort. Cant, 
+ Bistort has been considered to be the Oxylapathqjn BrttaQnicuui, aod JLimoniiuu of 
the Ancients. Vide Bauh. Pin. 192, Matth. 946. 
t Gray's Elements. 
