OCTANDRIA. TRIGYNIA. Polygonum. 499 
Birds’Knot-grass, or Red Robin. (Irish: Glunneagh beug. Welsh: 
Canclwm; Berwr yr idr. E.) Road sides, paths, streets, corn-fields, 
especially in a gravelly soil. A. April—Sept.^ 
Var. 2. brevifolium. Retz. Leaves oblong: stamens seven. 
Ger. 451. 2— Pet. 10. 3. 
Leaves about one-fourth of an inch long. 
In gravelly spots, and road sides. Sandy road near Ingestree Heath, Staf¬ 
fordshire. Stokes. 
Var. 3. angustifolium. Retz. Leaves strap-shaped. 
Pet 10. 2. 
Leaves very .slender. 
Camberwell, and amongst corn in Houndfield by Pondersend. Ray. 
Var. 4. Huds. Leaves oval. 
Pet. 10. 2. 
Uncultivated places. Ray. Near Coleshill, Warwickshire. Stokes. 
Var. 5. (A larger plant, with somewhat fleshy leaves, when growing near 
the sea. P. marinum. Ray: excluding all the synonyms, which belong 
to P. maritimum , Linn, is a perennial shrubby species, distinguished 
also by the very numerous and crowded ribs of its stipules. Sm. E.) 
No plant varies more than this species in the shape and size of the leaves, 
from strap-shaped to oval, and in breadth from a line to half an inch. 
Woodw. 
(5) Leaves somewhat heart-shaped. 
P. fagopy'iium. Leaves heart-arrow-shaped: stem nearly upright, 
without prickles: angles of the seeds equal. 
(E. Bot. 1044. E.)— Bod. 512— Lob. Obs. 513. 3 - Ger. Em. 89— Park. 
1141— II. Ox. v. 29. row 1. 1. f. 1— Pet. 2. 12 —Trag. 648— J. B. ii. 993 
— Ger. 82. 2— C. B. th. 530— Lonic. i. 253. 1 and 2. 
(Herb rather succulent. Stem a little flexuose, smooth, except a downy 
line along one side, about one foot high. Flowers in spreading panicles, 
terminal and lateral. Sm. Hook. E.) Five of the eight stamens bear 
anthers whose lobes are separated by a short bar. All the filaments have 
yellow glands between them. The three styles are divided to the very 
base. E. Bot. E.) Blossom purplish white. Flowering spikes shorter 
than the leaves. 
Buck Wheat. Brank. French Wheat. (Welsh: Gwenith yr hyda 
E.) Corn-fields: (scarcely indigenous. E.) A. July—Aug.t 
* The seeds are useful for every purpose in which those of the next species are employed. 
Cows, goats, sheep, horses, and swine eat it. The stubbles in Sweden are purpled over 
with this plant. Linn. It affords nourishment to Chrysomela Polygoni; (also the seeds to 
many small birds, whence its trivial name. In Alsace it is gathered, and dried in large 
quantities as hay for cattle. De Cand. In England it is considered a sort of Surface 
Squitch, troublesome to the farmer; but generally so from neglect of manuring, drill hus¬ 
bandry, and the hoe. E.) 
+ The plant is very impatient of cold, perishing on the first attack of frost. The seeds 
furnish a nutritious meal, which is not apt to turn acid upon the stomach. It is made into 
thin cakes in Shropshire and other parts of England, called crumpits : (and, according to 
Kaempfer, a somewhat similar repast is offered to travellers at all the inns in Japan. E-) 
It is usual with farmers to sow a crop of Buckwheat, and to plow it under when fully grown, 
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