i 
POLYGONUM VACCINIIFOLITJM. 
POLYGONUM VACCIOTrFOLIUM. 
Nat. Order. — Polygonacrze. 
113 [(fl 
Generic Character. — Polygonum, Linnrcus. — Flowers per- 
fect or by suppression polygamous. Perigone generally coloured, 
live-toothed, more rarely three- or four-toothed ; segments 
sometimes unequal, mostly enlarged after the fertilization. 
Stamens five or eight, either opposite, singly, to the segments 
of the perigone, or in pairs to its inner series ; very rarely four 
or nine ; filaments awl-shaped ; anthers ovate, didymous, ver- 
satile. Glands perigynous or more rarely hypogynous, alter- 
nate with the stamens, sometimes wanting. Oeary one-celled, 
compressed or three-sided; ovule solitary, orthotropous, arising 
from the base of the cell ; styles two- or three-toothed, or almost 
wanting ; stigmas capitate. Aehcnium lenticular or three- 
sided, enclosed in the perigone. Seed of the same form as the 
achenium, erect ; embryo surrounding the angle of the fari- 
naceous or horny albumen, antirropous, slightly curved ; coty- 
ledons incumbent and narrowly linear, or accumbent and 
broadly foliaceous, received into a furrow in the albumen, 
radicle rather loug, superior. — Herbs growing all over the 
globe, rarer in the tropics, annual or perennial, sometimes 
half-shrubby, occasionally aquatic or twining ; leaves alternate, 
stalked or sessile, quite entire or sinuate, sometimes crisped 
undulated, occasionally having pellucid dots, with rather loose 
membranous ochretc ; flowers spiked, racemose or panieled, 
sometimes sub-capitate, with bracts either like the ochrece or 
funnel-shaped, tubular. — [Endlicher Gen. Plant. 19S6.) 
Polygonum vacciniifolium, ( Wallich) Meaner, — Cranberry- 
leaved Polygonum. Spikes sub-cylindrical, loose-flowered, 
flowers spreading, leaves shortly petiolate, ovate or elliptical, 
attenuated at both ends, smooth ; stem creeping. 
f DESCRIPTION. — Stem shrubby, prostrate, very much branched; the branches are either 
' short and nearly erect, or long and prostrate. Leaves ovate, attenuated at both ends, 
usually having a short acute point, the margin slightly revolute, glabrous, reticulated, with 
numerous slightly prominent nerves, particularly on the upper face, bright green above, some- 
times tinged with red, pale beneath, shortly stalked. Stipules long, with numerous strong 
brown nerves, soon torn so deeply as to present the appearance of a tuft of long stiff hairs. 
Flowers rose-coloured, in rather long sub-cylindrical racemose spikes, which are usually simple, 
but sometimes slightly panieled, and grow on short branches rising three or four inches from the 
ground. The segments of the calyx are oval. Stamens eight; styles three, rather long, the 
pedicels jointed just below the flower. Fruit three-sided, the faces lanceolate, sliining, and 
minutely granulate-punctate. — A. H. 
History, &c. — A native of the mountains of Northern India, growing at a considerable 
elevation, in company with Polygonum Brunonis, and our native P. vivipai-um. According to 
Dr. Eoyle, these plants reach an elevation of 13,000 feet, being found between that height and 
7,000 feet. The present species was raised in the garden of the Horticultural Society of 
London, in 1845, from seeds communicated by Captain William Munro ; and has been thence 
extensively distributed. It flowers for some time in the autumn. 
Culttjbe. — A rock plant, and perfectly hardy in this country when planted in well chained 
situations. It should have a tolerably good soil, and be kept from the encroachments of more 
vigorous neighbours : under such circumstances, it becomes a very useful plant for planting on 
rockwork. It is propagated readily by cuttings of the moderately young shoots, or by the 
trailing brandies, which root as they lie on the surface of the ground. — M. 
BOTANICAL FRAGMENTS. 
WUIF, second series of the Rhododendrons of SiKkim-Himalaya recently published by Reeve & Co., 
IX introduces to us several remarkable and mostly very beautiful forms of this genus, of which Dr. 
Honker, during his just terminated journeyings, has found no less than forty-three species inhabiting 
this elevated tract of Northern India. This second scries or fasciculus contains figures of ten species; 
and is to be shortly followed by another. The plates before us, which are beautiful as works of art, 
and no doubt faithful botanical portraits, represent: — R. Aucklandii (t. 11), a bush with large leaves, 
and very large white veiny Howers, remarkable for the comparative shortness of their tube ; Jl. Thomp- 
son! (t. 12), a splendid crimson-flowered bush, with short broad blunt leaves; X. pendulum (t. 18), a 
small pendulous epiphyte, with small white flowers ; It. //it mi 'htm (t. 14), a charming little alpine form, 
the least of the Sikkim Rhododendrons, with pretty pink hells elevated above the foliage; /.'. //■"/</s<mi 
(t. 15), a tree with very large broad blunt leaves, and close heads of pinkish rose-coloured Bowers; 
11. lanatum (t. 1(>), a large shrub, with the leaves tawny beneath, and sulphur-coloured Bowers spotted 
with crimson : R.glaucum (t. 17), a very pretty small .shrub, with leaves glaucous beneath, and heads 
of moderate-sized rose-pink flowers; ];. Maddeni (t. 18), a shrub with pointed leaves, ferruginous 
beneath, and large long-tubed lily-like pure white flowers; li.lrijlonim (L 19), a small azalea-like 
shrub, with moderate-sized greenish-yellow flowers ; JR. setosum (t 20), a much branched shrub of a 
vol.. in. tt 
