Polygonum Persicaria. Common spotted 
Persicaria. 
Polygonum 
POLYGONUM 
POLYGONUM 
Limat Gen. PI. 
Rail Syn. Gen. 5 
OcTANDRIA TrigyNIA. 
HerBJE FLORE IMPERFECTO SEU STAMINEO, 
VEL APETALO POTIUS. 
ftipulis ciliatis, fpicis ovato- 
Perficaria floribus liexandris femidigynis, pedunculis laevibus, 
oblongis erectis. 
Pcrjicatia floribus hexandris digynis, fpicis ovato-oblongis, foliis lanceolatis, ftipulis ciliatis* 
^ Lm. Syft. Veget ab. p. 312. Flor. Suecic. p. i^o. 
PFP Sr f -°-" S OVat ?'J anceoIatis > fub hirfutis, fpicis ovatis - ? vaginis ciliatis. Haller, hijl. Helv. v. 2. p. 257* 
mitis maculofa et non maculofa. Baubin. Pin. p. 101. ' 
ieAKIA maculofa Gerard, emac. 445. vulgaris mitis feu maculofa. Parkinfon. 856. Raii Syn. ed. ■?. p. i 4 r. 
n. 4. Dead or fpotted Arfmart. Hudfon Flor. Angi. p. 147. n. 4. ScopoliFl. Carniol p. 279. 
v , ■ | ROOT (imple and fibrous. 
e P ! 1S ’ a a m aliquando repens, pedalis ad £ STALK upright, fometimes creeping at bottom, from 
tripe aiem^ ramolus, teres, glaber, ad genicu- ? one to three feet high, branched, round, lmooth, 
los lenfiin incraflatus faepe rubens : fub geni- | gradually thicker at the joints, often of a red 
cu is pundta radicalia difcernantur quamvis huic y colour: a little beneath each joint fome radical 
peciei non propria. i points are obfervable, which however are not 
T? a a/tt 1 I peculiar to this fpecies* 
a terni, e ungulo geniculo prodeuntes, patentes, | BRANCHES alternate, proceeding from each joint, 
and midrib {lightly hairy, fmooth on both fides, 
in general having a large lpot on the middle of 
the leaf fomewhat like a horfe Ihoe. 
Q _ ftepe diffufi. I fpreading, frequently very much fo. 
DAE vagmantes, liquore vifcido fepe repletse, | STIPULAE embracing the ftalk, frequently full of a vif- 
TrnTTA , 13 , I cid liquid, and terminated by long ciliae or hairs* 
t UL.1A lanceolata, fubpetiolata, margine nervoque me- f LEAVES lanceolate, with Ihort foot-ftalks, the edge 
dio lubhirfutis, utrinque laevia, maculi ferrum y — J — - J -'- - r — -- 1 - ' ^ - r ' 
equinum quodammodo referente ftepius notata. f 
S?e C r ULIW r S, o • • I FOOT-STALKS of the flowers, fmooth. 
r LUKEb lpicati, rofei, Spies terminales, ereCtae, fubovatas. | FLOWERS growing in fpikes, of a bright rofe colour, 
the fpikes terminal, upright, of a fomewhat 
I oval lhape. 
1 I CALYX : a Perianthium divided into five fegments, 
coloured, and perlifting, the fegments oval and 
I obtufe, jig. 1, 2. 
y COROLLA wanting. 
I STAMINA: fix Filaments inferted into the bottom 
I of the Calyx, the length of the Corolla; the 
CALYX: Perianthium quinquepartitum, coloraturi 
perfiftens, fegmentis ovatis obtufis, jig, 1, 2. 
COROLLA nulla. 
STAMINA : h il ament a fex fundo calycis inferta lon- 
gitudine corollae Antherje rubentes, fig. 
PISTILLUM: Germen ovatum, compreffum, aut tricjue- | PISTILLUM ” Gehmen' ovat and flat, or three-fquare, 
t ?7 s DS “ d hJ “ , " S I fiS- 3 . 6- Style divided down to the middle into 
4brotmda ’ fif ' i’ ®' Stigma,ia duo auttna | two, ofteninto three parts, fg. 5, 8. Stigmata 
1 SEED 0n n,V Cither ° fan 7d P°" lted <hape antl 
trigonum, fg. ,o, ,, ^ ! ^“"1 - “ 9 ’ ^ “ 
o-rrP'ffrY uA Inni itywhich exifts between the feverai Ipecies of the Polygonums, has occafioned no fmall de- 
overenme wl 'f R t° 3nl S ’ "1 Y'Y "' aicertaimng the limits of each Species and Variety ; a difficulty not to be 
overcome whde Books are confulted more than Nature, Senflble of the truth of this obfervation, and earneftly 
Varieties f fpT’ S T,. 1 ?"' 1 ' °? * 1S fl ! b -> ea - we W examined a vafl: number of all the different Species and 
r d f P °‘ yS 7r WhlC u T ne « hbourho ° d afford, compared them with one another, fown the feeds, and 
cultivated many of them; and if we do not deceive ourfelves, have reduced 1‘ome of the more difficult ones to 
their true Species and Varieties. 
Ac what we i elate concerning thefe plants is no more than the refultof the moft accurate and repeated inveftigation 
Authority ^ miCr ° fc0pe ’ We iha11 be the lefs concerned becaufe we differ from Authors of the moft refpedable 
1 he writer who gives an account of all the known plants in the univerfe, cannot be fuppofed to have the oppor- 
tunity of being lo minute in his enquiries as one who deferibes the plants of a particular fpot, which as they grow 
are conftantly the objefts of his attention. J h 
We have ventured to alter Linnseus’s Specific defeription of this plant, which ftands thus. 
Polygonum floribus hexandris digynis , fpicis ovato-oblongis, foliis lanceolatis , ftipulis ciliatis, to 
i olygonum for thus hexandris Jcmidigynis, pedunculis lavibus, fipulis ciliatis , fpicis ovato-oblongis ere Bis. 
We have not made this alteration from an idle defire of differing from fo great a Man, whom we truly refpedt and 
revere, ut olely to make the diftinCtions betwixt thofe plants more obvious, and thereby add our mite to the 
general ltock ol Botanic knowledge. _ In fpecific deferiptions, the diftinguilhing marks Ihould as much as pofiible 
be contralted or oppoled to each other, in thefe plants this does not feem to have been fufficiently attended to. What 
we lave piincipally in view by altering the Specific defeription is to diftinguilh it from the Polygonum Penfylvanicum 
nearly S alf 1 ^ 1635 W UC 1 t ^ iere are Several, and to which the Polygonum Perfcaria in its general habit is exceeding 
In all the flowers of this Species vvhich we have examined, the Style has been divided juft half way down 
hence we have called the flowers Semidigym, had it been divided down to the bafe they would with propriety have 
been called Digynt. In moft of the flowers the Style is divided into two parts, and the Germen is a little convex 
on each fide, in lome of the flowers the ftyle is divided into three, hence thofe flowers might be called Semi- 
tr/gyni, and when this is the cafe the Germen is always triangular. In the Polygonum Penfylvanicum the Style is di- 
vide nearly to the bafe, this difference then in the divilion of the Style, is of conliderable confequence in diftinguilh- 
ing the two Species and their varieties from each other. 
The footftalks which fupport the flowers in this Species, are quite fmooth, in the Polygonum Penfylvanicum, they 
are belet with a great number of minute glands, which gives them a manifeft roughnefs, and contributes to charac- 
terife that Species. 
The Stipulae are furnilhed with long Ciliae or Hairs, particularly towards the top of the plant, in the Polygonum 
Penfylvanicum thefe are wanting. Thefe two plants likewife differ much in the form of their feeds, of which we {hall 
lpeak more fully in our account of the latter. 
I he flowers always grow in upright fpikes of an oval lhape more or lefs round; by thefe two characters this 
Species is at once diftinguilhed from th & Polygonum Hydropiper , the fpikes of which are filiform and pendulous. 
The leaves are moft commonly fpotted, but this is neither conftant nor peculiar to this Species, and difference of 
fize only forms the principle variety to which it is fubjedt. 
It grows exceedingly common in all our Ditches, and flowers in Auguft and September; its blolfoms are beautiful 
and laic a conliderable time, was it not fo common, it would probably bethought worthy of a place in our Gardens. 
No particular virtues or ules are attributed to it. 
