LXXXII. POLYGONACE^l 427 
3. RUMEX. The classical name of Sheep’s Sorrel, Rumex 
Acetosella . — Most temperate regions. 
Erect, glabrous herbs ; stems and branches grooved. Leaves 
oblong, ovate or hastate ; stipules tubular, not fringed, soon 
torn and disappearing. Flowers 2 -sexual or polygamous, small, 
green, often turning red, in whorl-like, distant clusters forming 
terminal or axillary racemes or branching into panicles. Perianth 
6 -parted. Stamens 6 ; anthers basifixed. Ovary 3 -sided ; styles 
3, stigmas fringed. Nut brown, acutely 3-angled, enclosed in the 
Fig. 136. Rijmex hastatus. 
three, enlarged and finely net-veined inner segments of the 
perianth or fruiting sepals. 
The absence of honey-secreting glands and the fringed stigmas point to the 
cross-fertilisation of the flowers being effected by the wind instead of by 
insects. 
Fruiting sepals entire. 
Lower leaves stalked, oblong ; upper sessile, lanceolate. 1. R. orientalis. 
Leaves all stalked, broadly triangular or 3-lobed . .3 . R. hastatus. 
Fruiting sepals fringed 2. R.nepalensis. 
*1. Rumex orientalis, Bernh. ; FI. Br. Ind. v. 58. Stems 
3-4 ft., often very thick. Leaves entire, pointed ; lower ones long- 
