LX1II. POLYGONS®. 
235 
Order LXIII. POLYGONE.®. 
Herbs or shrubs. Leaves alternate, entire ; stipules membranous, tubular, 
often lacerated. Flowers regular, small, solitary, spiked racemed or panicled. 
— Perianth 5- or 6-partite, imbricate, persistent, enclosing the fruit. Stamens 
usually 6-9, perigynous. Ovary free, 1-celled; styles 1-8, stigmas capitate; 
ovule 1, erect. Fruit a usually compressed or 3-gonous nut enclosed in the 
dry or fleshy, often enlarged perianth. Seed filling the nut ; embryo cylindric, 
straight or curved ; albumen mealy. 
A very large tropical and temperate genus, containing various European weeds that may 
he expected to occur in New Zealaud, besides the Buckwheat. 
Flowers hermaphrodite. Perianth not succulent in fruit .... 1. Polygonum. 
Flowers unisexual. Base of the perianth succulent in fruit ... 2. Muhlenbeckia. 
Flowers hermaphrodite. Two or three inner lobes of perianth en- 
larged and closing over the fruit 3. Rumex. 
1. POLYGONUM, Linn. 
Herbs, rarely shrubs ; prostrate or erect, simple or branched. Flowers 
white or red, small, racemed spiked or axillary and solitary, spikes rarely pa- 
nicled. — Flowers hermaphrodite. Perianth 5 -partite, persistent. Stamens 
usually 6-8, rarely fewer. Ovary 3-gonous or compressed ; styles 2 or 3, 
very short. Nut 3-gonous or compressed, included in or protruding from 
the withered, dry perianth. 
A very large, tropical and temperate genus. 
Flowers spiked. Nut flattened 1. P. minus. 
Flowers axillary, 1-3 together. Nut 3-gonous 2. P. aviculare. 
1. P. minus, Huds., var. decipiens ; — P . prostratum, A. Cunn.; — FI. 
N. Z. i. 209, not Br. Stems herbaceous, prostrate at the base or suberect, 
glabrous or pilose, simple or sparingly branched. Leaves scattered, 2-8 in. 
long, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, eglandular, margins scabrous; stipules 
long, brown, with ciliated aperture. Spikes long, slender, terminal, simple 
or compound, 1-2 in. long. Flowers small, not crowded, reddish, T ’ T in. 
long. Bracts truncate, glabrous or ciliate. Perianth lobes oblong, obtuse, 
eglandular, glabrous. Nut flattened, with obtuse edges. 
Northern and Middle Islands : not uncommon, Banks and Solander, etc. This is a 
southern state of the common North- European P. minus ; it entirely resembles P. salidfolium, 
Del., and P. serrulatum, Lag., except that the nuts are llatteued and uot 3-gonous; it 
abounds in Australia, tropical and subtropical India, Africa, and America, and is also found 
in Southern Europe ; it differs from the typical P. minus in the more sleuder erect habit, 
and few, long, simple, long-peduncled spikes ; it is the P. decipiens, Br., of Australia. 
2. P. aviculare, Linn.; — FI. N. Z. i. 210. Stems herbaceous, much 
branched, prostrate, woody at the base; branches spreading, 6-24 in. long, 
hard, wiry, grooved, rough or smooth’. Leaves small, scattered, coriaceous, 
f-lf in. long, linear-oblong or sublanceolate, obtuse or acute, margins re- 
curved ; stipules membranous, silvery, ragged, long or short. Flowers small, 
solitary or 2 or 3 together, axillary, pedicelled. Nut acute, 3-gonous, longer 
than the perianth. 
