OCTANDRIA. TRIGYNIA. Polygonum. 497 
Var. 2. Stem and flowers red, but not so beautifully bright as those of 
P. Persicaria. Like the preceding in every other respect. Curt. 
On dunghills with Var. 1, and also in corn-fields. 
Var. 3. Stem spotted with red. Curt. 
i Curt. P. Pers. caule maculato . 
Comes near to a distinct species. Stem spotted with red. Spikes much 
slenderer, even more so than those of P. Persicaria, red, but not so bright 
as those of Persicaria. Leaf-stalks rough underneath. Leaves generally 
white underneath. If not attentively examined, will be taken for P. Per¬ 
sicaria. Curt. 
P. Persicaria , Pol. Leers, t). d. Huds. Ditches about St. George’s Fields, 
often with P. Persicaria, and on the watery parts of Blackheath and 
Peckham Rye. Dunghills, and in a ditch on Stourbridge Common. 
Worcestershire. Stokes. A. Sept. 
Var. 4. Leaves hoary underneath. Ray. 
Pet. 3. 8. 
Willow-leaved Persicaria. Corn-fields, and other situations where the soil 
is not very rich. 
(3) Flowers with eight stamens and three pistils: spike single: stem 
undivided. 
P. bistor'ta. Leaves egg-shaped, wavy, extended at the base along 
the leaf-stalks. 
( E. Bot. 509. E.)— Ludw. 31— Kniph. 1— Curt. — Blackw. 254— Mill. 66— 
FI. Dan. 421— Woodv. 34— Sheldr. Ill— Clus. ii. 69. 1— Dod. 333— Lob. 
Obs. 156. 3 *—Ger. Em. 399. 1 —H. Ox. v. 28. row 3. 2— Matth. 946— 
Park. 392. 1— Fuchs. 773 —Trag. 321— J. B. iii. 539. 1 —Lonic. i. 202. 3 
•— Fuchs. 774— J. B. iii. 538— Ger. 322. 1 and 3. 
{Stem one to two feet high. Spike cylindrical, dense, one to two inches 
long. Root large, tortuous; whence the trivial name. E.) Root-leaves 
extended down the leaf-stalks. Stem-leaves sheathing the stem. Flowers 
in a spike, forming a single cluster. Common calyx of two valves, the one 
large, lopped, the other smaller and terminated by a membranous projec¬ 
tion. Flowers, two within each common calyx, one of them on a fruit- 
stalk, the other sessile, surrounded with a proper kind of cup, thin, sca- 
riose, nearly cylindrical; mouth even, and very entire. Blossom with five 
divisions, pale red. Anthers double, the two parts being only united by 
the filaments. 
Great Bistort or Snakeweed. (Irish: Stansi. Welsh: Llys y neidr. 
E.) Moist meadows in the northern counties. Bishop’s Wood, near 
Hampstead; and Battersea. Brome, Norfolk, (and Shipmeadow, Suf¬ 
folk. Mr. Woodward. E.) Ham Green, near Mathon and Martley, 
Worcestershire. Mr. Ballard. Near Derby. Mr. Whately. Near the 
Infirmary, Stafford. (River side, Broomfield, Essex. Mr. W. Christy. 
Near Llanfaes church, and on Treffos demesne, Anglesey. Welsh Bot. 
Near Bromsgrove on the side of the Kidderminster road. Purton. Roslin 
woods. Mr. Arnott. Grev. Edin. In the Garlic Meadows, near Perm’s 
Mill, Erdington, Warwickshire. E.) P. May—June.* 
* The root is one of the strongest vegetable astringents. The young shoots are eaten in 
herb pudding in the north of England, Stokes ; and about Manchester they are substituted 
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