Part 146 (1/2)

P. ORIENTaLE, L. (PRINCE'S FEATHER.) Tall branching annual, _soft-hairy; leaves ovate_ or oblong, pointed, distinctly petioled; _sheaths_ ciliate or _often with an abrupt spreading border_; flowers large, bright rose-color, _in dense cylindrical nodding spikes; stamens 7_.--Sparingly escaped from gardens into waste grounds. (Adv. from India)

P. PERSICaRIA, L. (LADY'S THUMB.) Nearly _smooth and glabrous_ (12--18'

high); sheaths more or less bristly-ciliate; leaves lanceolate, pointed, roughish, often marked with a dark triangular or lunar spot near the middle; _spikes ovoid or oblong, dense, erect, on smooth_ (or at least not glandular) _peduncles_; stamens mostly 6; _styles half 2--3-cleft_; achene gibbous-flattened or sometimes triangular, smooth and s.h.i.+ning.--Waste and damp places, very common. (Nat. from Eu.)

[+][+] _Sepals conspicuously dotted and leaves punctate (except n. 13), with acrid juice; style mostly 3-parted, and achene triangular; sheaths bristle-fringed._

13. P. hydropiperoides, Michx. (MILD WATER-PEPPER.) _Perennial, not acrid_; stem smooth (1--3 high), branching; the narrow _sheaths hairy_; leaves narrowly lanceolate, sometimes oblong; _spikes erect, slender_, sometimes filiform, often interrupted at base (1--2' long); flowers small, flesh-color or nearly white; _sepals not dotted; stamens 8; achene sharply triangular, smooth and s.h.i.+ning_.--Wet places and in shallow water; common, especially southward.

14. P. Hydropiper, L. (COMMON SMARTWEED or WATER-PEPPER.) _Annual_, 1--2 high, smooth; leaves narrowly to linear-lanceolate; _spikes nodding_, usually short or interrupted; flowers mostly greenish; _stamens_ 6; style 2--3-parted; _achene dull_, minutely striate.--Moist or wet grounds; apparently introduced eastward, but indigenous north and westward. (Eu.)

15. P. acre, HBK. (WATER SMARTWEED.) _Perennial_, nearly smooth; stems rooting at the dec.u.mbent base, 2--5 high; leaves larger and longer than in the last, taper-pointed; _spikes erect; flowers whitish_, sometimes flesh-color; _stamens 8_; style _mostly 3-parted; achene smooth and s.h.i.+ning_.--Wet places; common, especially southward.

-- 3. BISToRTA. _Glabrous alpine perennials, with thick creeping rootstocks and simple stems; flowers in a spike-like raceme; calyx colored, deeply 5-cleft; stamens 8; styles 3, long._

16. P. viviparum, L. Smooth, dwarf (4--8' high), bearing a linear erect spike of flesh-colored flowers (or often little red bulblets in their place); leaves lanceolate.--Alpine summits of N. Eng., sh.o.r.es of L.

Superior, and northward. (Eu.)

-- 4. TOVaRA. _Perennials; flowers in loose naked long and slender spikes; calyx rather herbaceous (greenish), unequally 4-parted; stamens 5; styles 2, distinct, rigid and persistent on the smooth lenticular achene._

17. P. Virginianum, L. Almost smooth; stem terete, upright (2--4 high); sheaths cylindrical, hairy and fringed; leaves ovate, or the upper ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed, rounded at the base, short-petioled, rough-ciliate (3--6' long); flowers 1--3 from each bract, somewhat curved, the styles deflexed in fruit, minutely hooked.--Thickets in rich soil, common. (Asia.)

-- 5. TINIaRIA. _Annuals or perennials, mostly twining or climbing, and with petioled cordate or sagittate leaves; flowers in loose panicles or racemes or in terminal or axillary cl.u.s.ters; calyx green with colored margins, 5- (rarely 4-) parted; stamens mostly 8; styles or stigmas 3_ (2 in n. 18).

[*] _Annuals, erect, or somewhat climbing by reflexed p.r.i.c.kles on the angles of the stem and petioles; sepals (pale rose-color or white) not keeled; bracts chaff-like._

18. P. ariflium, L. (HALBERD-LEAVED TEAR-THUMB.) _Stem grooved-angled; leaves halberd-shaped_, taper-pointed, _long-petioled_; flowers somewhat racemed (few); peduncles glandular-bristly; calyx often 4-parted; _stamens 6; styles 2_, very short; _achene lenticular_ (large).--Low grounds. (Asia.)

19. P. sagittatum, L. (ARROW-LEAVED TEAR-THUMB.) _Stem 4-angled; leaves arrow-shaped, short-petioled_; flowers capitate; peduncles smooth; _stamens mostly 8; styles 3_, slender; _achene sharply 3-angled_.--Low grounds, common.--Slender, smooth except the angles of the stem and midrib beneath, which are armed with fine and very sharp saw-toothed p.r.i.c.kles. (Asia.)

[*][*] _Stems not p.r.i.c.kly; calyx with the 3 outer divisions keeled, at least in fruit; flowers in loose panicled racemes; bracts short-sheathing._

P. CONVoLVULUS, L. (BLACK BINDWEED.) _Annual_, twining or proc.u.mbent, low, _roughish, the joints naked_; leaves halberd-heart shaped, pointed; flowers in small interrupted corymbose racemes; _outer calyx-lobes keeled_; achene smoothish.--Cult. and waste grounds, common. (Nat. from Eu.)

20. P. cilinde, Michx. _Perennial, minutely downy; the sheaths fringed_ at the base with reflexed bristles; leaves heart-shaped and slightly halberd-shaped, taper-pointed; racemes panicled; _calyx-lobes obscurely keeled_; achene very smooth and s.h.i.+ning.--Copses and rocky hills, N.

Eng. to mountains of N. C., west to Mich, and Minn. Climbing 3--9 high.

21. P. dumetrum, L., var scandens, Gray. (CLIMBING FALSE BUCKWHEAT.) _Perennial, smooth; sheaths naked_; leaves heart-shaped or slightly halberd-shaped, pointed; racemes interrupted, leafy; the 3 outer _calyx-lobes strongly keeled and in fruit winged_; achene smooth and s.h.i.+ning.--Moist thickets, common. Twining 8--12 high over bushes.

P. CUSPIDaTUM, Sieb. & Zucc. Perennial, erect, stout and tall, glabrous except the loose axillary panicled racemes; leaves round-ovate, shortly ac.u.minate, truncate or cordate at base; outer sepals broadly winged in fruit.--Occasionally escaped from gardens. (j.a.pan.)

5. f.a.gOP?RUM, Tourn. BUCKWHEAT.

Calyx petal-like, equally 5-parted, withering and nearly unchanged in fruit. Stamens 8. Styles 3; stigmas capitate. Achene 3-sided, longer than the calyx. Embryo large, in the centre of the alb.u.men, which it divides into 2 parts, with very broad and foliaceous plaited and twisted cotyledons.--Glabrous annuals, with triangular-heart-shaped or halberd-shaped leaves, semicylindrical sheaths, and corymbose racemes or panicles of white flowers, often tinged with green or rose-color. (Name from _f.a.gus_, the beech, and p????, _wheat_, from the resemblance of the grain to the beech-nut; so the English name Buckwheat, from the German _buche_, beech.)

F. ESCULeNTUM, Moench. (BUCKWHEAT.) Smoothish; flower with 8 honey-bearing yellow-glands interposed between the stamens; achene acute and entire, smooth and s.h.i.+ning.--Old fields, remaining as a weed after cultivation, and escaping into copses. June--Sept. (Adv. from Eu.)

F. TATaRIc.u.m, Gaertn. (INDIA-WHEAT.) Flowers very small, on shorter pedicels; achene very dull and roughish, the sides sulcate.--An occasional escape from cultivation. (Adv. from Asia.)