OCTANDRIA Trigynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. coloured, in 5 segments, permanent.
Seed solitary, superior, angular, invested with the
calyx. Stam. and P ist. uncertain in number.
Spec. Char. Flowers with six stamina and two distinct
styles. Flower-stalks rough. Stipulse beardless. Seeds
concave on each side.
Syn. Polygonum lapathifolium. Linn. Sp. P L 5 17 - Sm.
F I. B rit. 4 25 . Relh. 156 . Sibth. 129 . Jb b o t. 89.
P. pensylvanicum. Curt. L o n d .fa sc . 1. t. 24, 25.
P. Persicaria £. Huds. 170.
P. pallidum. With. 3 8 1 . H ull. 85.
Persicaria mitis major, foliis pallidioribus. R a il Syn.
14 5 ,
U F th is there are several v a r ie t ie s ; som e w ith pa le wh itish
flow e r s , as in our figu re ; others w ith red flow e rs and stem,
o r a spotted s t em ; some w h o se leaves are sm o o th , others
h o a r y , o n the under side. A l l o f th em are an n u a l, flow ering
in J u l y and A u g u s t , and o c cu r r in g about d u n gh ills and in
r ic h m o is t g ro u n d , e sp e c ia lly in th e low trac ts about the
T h am e s . M r . C u r t is , as w e h av e observed at v. \ l . p. 756,
w a s th e first w h o c le a r ly d istingu ish ed th is species from the
m o re u n iv e rsa l P . Persicaria. H e erred o n ly , w ith H u d son ,
in su p p o sin g ours the P . pensylvanicum, w h ich proves b y the
L in n a e an H e rb a rium to be d iffe rent. In th at co lle c tion in deed
is no au thentic sp e c im en o f P . lapathifolium; so that its
n am e rests on th e au th o r ity o f desc ription s and syn on yms
o n ly : b u t w e b e lie v e it is n o t liab le to be con tro verted. The
sp e c ific characte r depends on the separate s ty le s , glandular
s ta lk s , an d m o s tly beardless stipulae.