376 lxxii. polygonaceje. \_ Rumex . 
from every preceding species by its narrow leaves , excessively crowded 
flowers, bright, almost ’orange-coloured, enlarged sepals, and their 
setaceous, almost spinous teeth. 
11. R. palustris Sm. ( yellow Marsh I ).) ; enlarged sepals 
ovate-oblong with a lanceolate entire point, each with 2 — 3 
short setaceous teeth near the base shorter than the sepal and 
bearing a narrow oblong tubercle, whorls remote.— a. radical 
leaves oblong or lanceolate cordate or slightly decurrent at 
the base, upper ones linear-lanceolate. R. Steinii Becker . — 
(5. all the leaves linear-lanceolate attenuate at both ends. R. 
palustris Campd-: E. B. t. 1932. R. limosus Thuill. R. ma- 
ritimus Curt. Gold Dock Petit). 
Marshy places, remote from the sea ; near the Vault, east of Dun- 
bar : J. Machay. P. 7 — 9. — Nearly allied to the last, but distin- 
guished by the distant whorls when in fruit; by the form of the 
enlarged sepals; and by the number, shape, length, and situation of 
the teeth which border them. Our var. B. is the form usually believed 
on the continent to be R. palustris of Smith ; and Dr. Meisner, who 
examined the specimens in Smith’s herbaiium, came to the same con- 
clusion; but Smith’s description of the radical leaves certainly accords 
better (as shown by Mr. Babington) with our var. a. It is, however, 
probable that Smith, knowing of how little value the forms of leaves 
are for the distinction of species, when unsupporled by other characters 
of greater importance, did not intend to separate the two even as 
varieties. No locality is now known with certainty for our var. B., 
although formerly it appears to have been found in ditches (now long 
since covered by houses) about London, and apparently also in Lin- 
colnshire and Derbyshire. Mr. Babington, relying more on the form 
of the leaves than on the other points of distinction, was at one time 
inclined to refer the var. B • to R. maritimus ; Dr. Meisner retains the 
three as distinct species ; Mr. Bentham conjoins the whole. 
** Plants acid. Flowers dioecious. Acetosa, or Sorrels. 
12. R. Acetosa L. (common S.); outer sepals reflexed, en- 
larged ones orbicular-cordate entire membranous reticulate 
with a minute spherical tubercle at the base, leaves oblong- 
sagittate. E. B. t. 127.? 
Meadows and pastures, frequent. If. . 5 — 7. — Stem 1 — 2 feet 
high. Petals becoming large, purplish, orbicular-cordate, obtuse, 
membranous, reticulate with veins ; tubercles very small, almost 
obsolete. Sir J. E. Smith says the enlarged sepals are ovate, “ each 
bearing a pale oblong tubercle:” it is therefore probable that he has 
described a cultivated specimen ; this Mr. Babington refers to 
R. Hispanicus Koch (the Acetosa Hispanica maxima of Munting), 
which has oblong tubercles extending beyond the middle of the en- 
larged sepals ; but that is a very little known plant, and apparently 
not cultivated in this country ; neither Meisner nor Campdera had 
seen it. The synonym of Munting had been doubtfully referred by 
