-Polygonum.'] 
CIII. P0LYG0NACE2E. 
1273 
12. P. lanigerum (woolly), Pi. Br. Prod. 419 ; Benth. FI. Austr. v. 271. 
Stems erect, slightly branched, attaining 2 or 3ft., the whole plant white with a 
close woolly or arachnoid tomentum, or the upper surface of the leaves and the 
lower part of the stem at length glabrous. Leaves shortly petiolate, lanceolate, 
acuminate, 3 to 4in. long or even larger. Stipules sheathing, usually long, 
bordered by few fine cilia. Spikes narrow but rather dense, 1 to llin.long, several 
in a terminal panicle. Bracts short, denticulate-ciliate. Perianth often glandular. 
Style short, with 2 long branches. Nut flat. — Meissn. in DC. Prod. xiv. 117. 
Hab.: Burdekin River, F. v. Mueller ; and other southern localities. 
The species is common in E. India, and extends to S. Africa. Although nearly allied to 
P. lapathifolium, it appears constantly to differ from the var. incanum of that species, in the 
abundance of the white indumentum. — Benth. 
13. P. strigosum (bristly), 7?. Br. Prod. 420 ; Benth. FI. Austr. v. 268. 
Stems weak, erect or straggling, 2 to 3ft. long, with reflexed bristles on the angles 
of the branches and on the petioles and midribs of the leaves, and a short 
glandular pubescence on the peduncles, otherwise the whole plant glabrous. 
Leaves petiolate, lanceolate, acuminate, hastate, or broadly sagittate at the base, 
the larger ones 2 to 4in. long. Stipules sheathing, shortly ciliate-tootlied or 
entire. Peduncles axillary, loosely dichotomous, usually longer than the leaves, 
the branches terminating in short rather dense but few-flowered spikes. Bracts 
■ denticulate and ciliate, nearly 2 lines long. Perianth-segments about 17 line 
long, slightly enlarged when in fruit, completely enclosing the smooth nut. 
Style branches and angles of the nut more frequently 3 than 2. — 
Meissn. in DC. Prod. xiv. 134 ; Hook. f. FI. Tasm. i. 307 ; P. pedun> ulare, Wall. ; 
Meissn. l.c. 133 ; P. muricatum, Meissn. l.c. 
Hab.: Brisbane River, Moreton Bay, A. Cunningham, F. v. Mueller-, Rockingham Bay, 
. Dallaclnj . 
The species extends over the Archipelago and Eastern India to S. China, varying with the 
spikes dense or slender and interrupted, and with the pistils 2-merous or 3-merous on the same 
plant. — Benth. 
14. P. Convolvulus (plant resembling a Convolvulus), Linn.; Boiss. Orient. 
iv. 1032 ; Hook, in FI. Brit. liul. v. 53. A prostrate or twining annual, 1 to 
4ft. long, angles puberulous. Leaves sagittate-cordate, 17 to 4in. long, gradually 
acuminate ; angles obtuse or acute, puberulous beneath ; petioles slender. 
Racemes sub-erect, short, slender ; pedicels recurved, short, jointed above the 
middle. Perianth segments obtuse, whitish. Nuts blackish, scarcely 1 line 
long.— Ql. Agri. Journ. vii. pi. lx. 
Hab.: Asia, Europe and Africa, now a pest of many countries. 
2. RUMEX, Linn. 
(Name of unknown origin.) 
Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual. Perianth of 6 segments, the three 
inner ones enlarged after flowering and closing over the fruit, the three outer 
much smaller, narrower and recurved. Stamens 6. Style 3, shortly filiform, 
with large fringed stigmas. Nut triangular, enclosed in the persistent perianth. 
Embryo lateral, the radicle superior. — Herbs or rarely, in species not Australian, 
shrubs, usually glabrous. Flowers small, herbaceous or the males petal-like, 
all often turning red, usually on recurved pedicels, in whorl-like clusters, either 
axillary or in terminal racemes or panicles. Stipules sheathing, scarious, usually 
brown, at first entire but almost always very soon torn or jagged. 
A considerable genus, widely distributed over most parts of the globe, but more especially in 
temperate regions and a few species are amongst the roadside weeds which the most readily 
establish themselves in new countries. 
