The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Part 146

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 shining.--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 shining_.--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 shining_.--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 shining.--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 shining.--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 shining.--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.)

6. POLYGONeLLA, Michx.

Flowers perfect or polygamous-dicious. Calyx 5-parted, petaloid, loosely persistent about the achene, the 3 inner divisions often enlarging in fruit, in which case the outer are usually spreading.

Stamens 8. Styles 3, and achene 3-angular. Embryo slender, straight or nearly so, toward one side of the alb.u.men.--Slender glabrous annuals or perennials, with alternate mostly linear leaves jointed at the base, and rather rigid truncate or oblique naked sheaths and bracts. Flowers on solitary jointed pedicels (nodding in fruit) in slender panicled racemes. (Diminutive of Polygonum.)

1. P. articulata, Meisn. Annual, erect, branching, glaucous, 4--12'

high; leaves linear-filiform, deciduous; flowers rose-color, nodding, in very slender racemes, the calyx a little enlarged in fruit; 3 inner filaments dilated at base; achene exserted, smooth. (Polygonum articulatum, _Gray_.)--Dry, sandy soil; on the coast from Maine to N. J., and along the Great Lakes.

7. BRUNNiCHIA, Banks.

Calyx 5-parted; the divisions somewhat petal-like, oblong, connivent and coriaceous in fruit, the base and almost the whole length of the pedicel winged on one side. Stamens 8; filaments capillary. Styles 3, slender; stigmas depressed-capitate. Ovule pendulous on a slender erect funiculus; seed erect, 6-grooved. Achene obtusely triangular, partly 3-celled, enclosed in the indurated calyx. Embryo in one of the angles of the mealy alb.u.men, somewhat curved.--Somewhat shrubby with grooved stems, climbing by tendrils from the ends of the branches. (Named for _F. Brunnich_, a Danish naturalist.)

1. B. cirrhsa, Banks. Glabrous; leaves ovate or heart-shaped pointed, entire; petioles dilated at base and partly clasping, but with no distinct sheath or stipules; flowers greenish, 2--5 in a fascicle from the axil of an awl-shaped bract, these crowded in axillary and terminal racemes; pedicel jointed near the base; fruiting calyx with the wing 1'

long.--S. Ill. to S. C. and Fla.

ORDER 90. PODOSTEMaCEae. (RIVER-WEED FAMILY.)

_Aquatics, growing on stones in running water, some with the aspect of_ Sea-weeds, _or others of_ Mosses _or_ Liverworts; _the minute naked flowers bursting from a spathe-like involucre as in_ Liverworts, _producing a 2--3-celled many-seeded ribbed capsule_;--represented in North America by

1. PODOSTeMON, Michx. RIVER-WEED.

Flowers solitary, nearly sessile in a tubular sac-like involucre, dest.i.tute of floral envelopes. Stamens 2, borne on one side of the stalk of the ovary, with their long filaments united into one for more than half their length, and 2 short sterile filaments, one on each side; anthers 2-celled. Stigmas 2, awl shaped. Capsule pedicellate, oval, 8-ribbed, 2-celled, 2-valved. Seeds minute, very numerous on a thick persistent central placenta, dest.i.tute of alb.u.men.--Leaves 2-ranked.

(Name from p???, _foot_, and st???, _stamen_; the two stamens being apparently raised on a stalk by the side of the ovary.)

1. P. ceratophllus, Michx. Leaves rigid or h.o.r.n.y, dilated into a sheathing base, above mostly forked into thread-like or linear lobes.--Not rare in shallow streams, E. Ma.s.s, to Minn., and southward.

July--Sept.--A small olive-green plant, of firm texture, resembling a Seaweed, tenaciously attached to loose stones by fleshy disks or processes in place of roots.

ORDER 91. ARISTOLOCHIaCEae. (BIRTHWORT FAMILY.)

_Twining shrubs, or low herbs, with perfect flowers, the conspicuous lurid calyx valvate in bud and coherent (at least at base) with the 6-celled ovary, which forms a many-seeded 6-celled capsule or berry in fruit. Stamens 6--12, more or less united with the style; anthers adnate, extrorse._--Leaves petioled, mostly heart-shaped and entire.

Seeds anatropous, with a large fleshy rhaphe, and a minute embryo in fleshy alb.u.men. A small family of bitter-tonic or stimulant, sometimes aromatic plants.

1. Asarum. Stemless herbs. Stamens 12, with more or less distinct filaments.

2. Aristolochia. Caulescent herbs or twining shrubs. Stamens 6, the sessile anthers adnate to the stigma.

1. aSARUM, Tourn. ASARABACCA. WILD GINGER.

Calyx regular; the limb 3-cleft or parted. Stamens 12, with more or less distinct filaments, their tips usually continued beyond the anther into a point. Capsule rather fleshy, globular, bursting irregularly or loculicidal. Seeds large, thick.--Stemless perennial herbs, with aromatic-pungent creeping root-stocks bearing 2 or 3 scales, then one or two kidney-shaped or heart-shaped leaves on long petioles, and a short-peduncled flower close to the ground in the lower axil; in spring.

(An ancient name, of obscure derivation.)

-- 1. _Calyx-tube wholly adnate to the ovary, the tips inflexed in bud; filaments slender, much longer than the short anthers; style barely 6-lobed at the summit, with 6 radiating thick stigmas; leaves a single pair, unspotted._