Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/629

Polygonum.] 1. P. aviculare, ''Linn. Sp. Plant.'' 362.—A glabrous rigid and wiry prostrate annual, much branched from the base; branches ½–2 ft. long, straggling, grooved, leafy throughout. Leaves scattered, sessile or shortly petioled, ⅓–1 in. long or more, linear-oblong to lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, rarely broader and elliptic-oblong, acute or obtuse, veins indistinct beneath, margins flat or recurved; stipules brown or reddish near the base, silvery-white above, scarious, lacerate to below the middle. Flowers small, $1⁄10$–$1⁄8$ in. long, solitary or in clusters of 2–4 in the axils of nearly all the leaves, very shortly pedicelled. Perianth-segments oblong, obtuse, with a green centre and broad white margins. Nut ovoid, obtusely 3-gonous, very minutely striate or punctate.—''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 210; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 235; Benth. Fl. Austral.'' v. 267.

2. P. plebeium, R. Br. Prodr. 420.—Habit of P. aviculare, but smaller and more compactly branched. Stems prostrate, glabrous or minutely scaberulous, 4–12 in. long, rarely more; branches slender, grooved. Leaves more closely placed than in P. aviculare, ⅙–½ in. long, linear to linear-oblong, rarely linear-spathulate, obtuse or subacute, midrib evident, margins flat or recurved; stipules short, hyaline, lacerate to the middle. Flowers small, $1⁄12$–$1⁄10$ in. long, solitary or in clusters of 2–5 in the axils of most of the leaves; pedicels short. Nut smaller than in P. aviculare, rhomboid, obtusely 3-gonous, smooth and shining.—''Benth. Fl. Austral.'' v. 267. P. Dryandri, ''Spreng. Syst.'' ii. 255; ''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel.'' i. 210. P. aviculare var. Dryandri, ''Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 236.

3. P. serrulatum, ''Lag. Gen. et Sp. Nov.'' 14.—Stems slender, herbaceous, sparingly branched, prostrate and rooting below, ascending or erect above, glabrous, 9–24 in. long or more. Leaves shortly petiolate, 2–5 in. long, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate,