POLYGONUM 
123 
British series of Centinode 
Series i. Maritima (see below). Perennial, biennial, or annual. Root more or less stout. 
Laminae more or less glaucous, sometimes with margins recurved. 85 Achenes large (about 4 — 5 mm. long), 
much exserted from the persistent perianth, smooth. 
Series ii. Avicularia (p. 124). Annual. Root slender. Laminae not or scarcely glaucous, 
flat. Achenes small (about 2 — 3 mm. long), included within the persistent perianth or only a 
little exserted, often punctate or striate. 
Series i. Maritima 
Maritima nobis; Group a , Rouy Ft. France xii, 109 (1910). 
For characters, see above. 
British species of Maritima 
14. P. maritimum (see below). Perennial. Ochreae often longer than the internodes, usually 
very silvery. Laminae glaucous, rather thick, margins recurved. 
15. P. raii (p. 124). Biennial or annual. Ochreae much shorter than the internodes, more or less 
silvery towards the top. Laminae rather glaucous, margins not or scarcely recurved at maturity. 
14. POLYGONUM MARITIMUM. Plate 130 
Polygonum mannuni Ray Syn. ed. 3, 147 (1724) partim. 
Polygonum maritimum L. Sp. PI. 361 (1753)!; Babington in Trans. Linn. Soc. xvii, 457 (1836)!; 
Syme Eng. Bot. viii, 69 (1868); Rouy FI. France xii, no (1910). 
leones: — Babington in Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2804; Beck in Reichenbach Icon. t. 203. 
Camb. Brit. FI. ii. Plate ijo. ( a ) Fruiting branches. ( b , c) Laminae, (d) Achenes. (e) Persistent 
perianth, enclosing achene (enlarged). (/) Achene (enlarged). Hampshire (E. F. L.). 
Exsiccata : — Billott, 632 et 632 bis ; Bourgeau, 160; Lange, 177; Todaro ; Welwitsch, 159. 
Perennial. Root comparatively stout, though usually less so in British specimens than in 
many from the Mediterranean region. Stem prostrate, perennial at the base, much branched, 
branches short, glaucous, 1 — 4 dm. Ochreae large, very conspicuous and silvery white above, 
brown below, 2-lobed at first, eventually lacerate, with 6 — 12 strong and branched veins, usually 
longer than the internodes. Petioles of the lower leaves distinct, of the upper leaves very 
short or absent. Laminae elliptical-acute to narrowly obovate, inrolled at the margins, thick, 
glaucous, strongly veined underneath, about 6 - — to mm. long. Inflorescence of 1 — 4 flowers. 
Pedicels about as long as the achene, jointed close to the perianth. Flowers about twice as large 
as those of P. aviculare ; July to September. Perianth pink, or pink and white, or greenish and 
white ; segments usually 5, broadly obovate, spreading a little in fruit. Stamens usually 8, 
nearly half as long as the perianth. Filaments dilated below. Stigmas usually 3, very short. 
Achenes large (4 mm. long and 2^5 broad), much exserted from the persistent perianth, smooth, 
shining, not punctate, reddish brown. 
Rare ; on unstable sand or shingle, usually just at or just above the limit of the high spring 
tides. Channel Isles — Jersey, Guernsey, 
Herm ; Sussex, Hampshire, Devonshire, 
Cornwall, Somerset. 
The species reaches its northern limit in the above 
localities, and, as in the case of many other plants at 
their geographical limits, is often not quite typical. 
Possibly some of the British plants should be referred to 
P. maritimum var. confusum Rouy FI. France xii, no 
(1910). P. maritimum is one of the maritime Medi- 
terranean-British species whose distribution in this 
country is western rather than eastern : examples of 
such eastern species are Suaeda fruticosa , Salicornia 
perennis, Frankenia laevis. 
Western France and southern Europe ; 
northern Africa; Asia Minor; the Atlantic Islands; Cape Colony (rare); North America (Mass, to 
Fla.) ; South America. 
Map 21. Distribution of Polygomtm ?naritimum in England 
16 — 2 
