Part 58

Flowers perfect, 3-bracted. Calyx tubular, 5-cleft at the summit, below 2--5-crested lengthwise, or tubercled and indurated in fruit, enclosing the indehiscent thin utricle. Filaments united into a tube, bearing 5 oblong 1-celled anthers, and as many sterile strap-shaped appendages.--Hairy or woolly herbs, with opposite sessile leaves, and spiked scarious-bracted flowers. (Named for _J. A. Froelich_, a German botanist of the last century.)

1. F. Floridana, Moquin. Root annual; stem leafless above (1--3 deg. high); leaves lanceolate, silky-downy beneath; spikelets crowded into an interrupted spike; calyx very woolly, becoming broadly winged, the wings irregularly toothed.--Dry sandy places, S. Minn, to Ill., Col., Tex., and Fla.

2. F. gracilis, Moq. More slender, with narrow leaves, the spikelets smaller, and the crests of the matured calyx of nearly distinct rigid processes--Col. to Tex., and is reported from Kansas.

(Addendum) 5. CLADOTHRIX, Nutt.

Flowers perfect, 3-bracted. Sepals 5, erect, rigid-scarious, somewhat pilose. Stamens 5, the filaments united at base; anthers large, 1-celled. Stigma large, capitate, 2-lobed. Utricle globose, indehiscent.--Densely stellate-tomentose low herbs or woody at base, with opposite petiolate leaves and very small flowers solitary or few in the axils. (Name from [Greek: kla/dos], _a branch_, and [Greek: thri/x], _hair_, for the branching tomentum.)

1. C. lanuginosa, Nutt. Prostrate or ascending, much branched; leaves round-obovate to rhomboidal, 3--10'' long.--Central Kan. (_Meehan_) and southwestward.

ORDER 87. CHENOPODIACEAE. (GOOSEFOOT FAMILY.)

_Chiefly herbs, of homely aspect, more or less succulent, with mostly alternate leaves and no stipules nor scarious bracts, minute greenish flowers, with the free calyx imbricated in the bud; the stamens as many as its lobes, or occasionally fewer, and inserted opposite them or on their base; the 1-celled ovary becoming a 1-seeded thin utricle or rarely an achene. Embryo coiled into a ring around the mealy albumen, when there is any, or else conduplicate, or spiral._--Calyx persistent, mostly enclosing the fruit. Styles or stigmas 2, rarely 3--5. (Mostly inert or innocent, weedy plants; several are pot-herbs, such as Spinach and Beet.)

[*] Embryo coiled into a ring about usually copious central albumen. Leaves flat, not spiny. Stem not jointed.

[+] Flowers perfect (or stamens only occasionally wanting), clustered or panicled; calyx obvious, persistent. Seed-coat crustaceous.

1. Cycloloma. Calyx 5-cleft, in fruit surrounded by a horizontal continuous membranaceous wing. Seed horizontal, crustaceous. Leaves sinuate-toothed.

2. Kochia. Like n. 1, but wing 5-lobed and seed-coat membranaceous. Leaves entire.

3. Chenopodium. Calyx 3--5-parted, unchanged or becoming fleshy in fruit.

4. Roubieva. Calyx 3--5-toothed, becoming saccate. Leaves pinnatifid.

[+][+] Flowers monoecious or dioecious; the staminate in clusters, mostly spiked; the pistillate without calyx, enclosed between a pair of appressed axillary bracts.

5. Atriplex. Fruiting bracts with margins often dilated and sides often muricate.

[+][+][+] Flowers perfect, naked or 1-sepaled, solitary in the axils of the reduced upper leaves.

6. Corispermum. Pericarp oval, flattened, adherent to the vertical seed. Leaves linear.

[*][*] Embryo narrowly horseshoe-shaped or conduplicate no albumen. Stem fleshy, jointed; leaves reduced to opposite fleshy scales or teeth. Flowers densely spiked, perfect.

7. Salicornia. Flowers sunk in hollows of the axis of the fleshy spike. Calyx utricle-like.

[*][*][*] Embryo coiled into a spiral; albumen mostly none. Leaves fleshy, alternate.

8. Suaeda. Embryo flat-spiral. Calyx wingless. Leaves succulent.

9. Salsola. Embryo conical-spiral. Calyx in fruit horizontally winged. Leaves spinescent.

1. CYCLOLOMA, Moquin. WINGED PIGWEED.

Flowers perfect or pistillate, bractless. Calyx 5-cleft, with the concave lobes strongly keeled, enclosing the depressed fruit, at length appendaged with a broad and continuous horizontal scarious wing. Stamens 5. Styles 3 (rarely 2). Seed horizontal, flat; coats crustaceous. Embryo encircling the mealy albumen.--An annual and much-branched coarse herb, with alternate sinuate-toothed petioled leaves, and very small scattered sessile flowers in open panicles. (Name composed of [Greek: ky/klos], _a circle_, and [Greek: lo/ma], _a border_, from the encircling wing of the calyx.)

1. C. platyphyllum, Moquin.--Diffuse (6--15' high), more or less arachnoid-pubescent or glabrate, light green or often deep purple.--Sandy soil, Minn, to W. Ill., S. Ind., Ark., and westward across the plains.

2. KOCHIA, Roth.

Characters nearly as in Cycloloma, but the seed-coat membranaceous and the albumen wanting.--Annuals or suffruticose perennials, with flat or more usually linear and terete leaves. (Named for _W. D. J. Koch_, a German botanist.)

K. SCOPARIA, Schrad. Annual, erect, puberulent or glabrate, branching; leaves narrowly lanceolate to linear; flowers in small axillary clusters, sessile, each sepal developing a thick wing.--Sparingly introduced; Vt., Ont., and Ill. (Nat. from Eu.)

3. CHENOPODIUM, Tourn. GOOSEFOOT. PIGWEED.

Flowers perfect, all bractless. Calyx 5- (rarely 4-) parted or lobed, unchanged in fruit or becoming succulent and berry-like, more or less enveloping the depressed fruit. Stamens mostly 5; filaments filiform. Styles 2, rarely 3. Seed horizontal or vertical, lenticular; the coat crustaceous; embryo coiled partly or fully round the mealy albumen.--Weeds, usually with a white mealiness, or glandular. Flowers sessile in small clusters collected in spiked panicles. (Named from [Greek: che/n], _a goose_, and [Greek: pou~s], _foot_, in allusion to the shape of the leaves.)--Our species are mostly annuals, flowering through late summer and autumn, growing around dwellings, in manured soil, cultivated grounds, and waste places.

Sec. 1. _Annual, more or less mealy, not glandular nor aromatic; fruiting calyx dry; seed horizontal; embryo a complete ring._

[*] _Pericarp very easily separated from the seed; leaves entire or rarely sinuate-dentate._

1. C. Boscianum, Moq. Erect, slender (2 deg. high), loosely branched, often _nearly glabrous; leaves oblong- to linear-lanceolate_ (1--2' long), attenuate into a _slender petiole_, acute, the lower sinuate-dentate or often all entire; flowers small, solitary or in small clusters upon the slender branchlets; _calyx not strongly carinate_. (C. album, var. Boscianum, _Gray_, Manual.)--N. Y. to Minn., south to N. C. and Tex.

2. C. leptophyllum, Nutt. _Densely mealy_ or rarely nearly glabrous (1/2--11/2 deg. high), simple or branched, often strict; _leaves linear_ (1/2--1' long), entire, _rather shortly petioled_; flowers closely clustered, in dense or interrupted spikelets; _calyx-lobes strongly carinate_.--Sea-coast, Conn. to N. J., north shore of L. Erie, and from Dak. to Col., N. Mex., and westward.

[*][*] _Pericarp persistent upon the smooth seed; leaves more or less sinuate-dentate (except in_ C. polyspermum).

C. POLYSPERMUM, L. Low, often spreading, green and _wholly destitute of mealiness; leaves all entire_, oblong or ovate and on slender petioles; flowers very small, in slender panicles in all the axils, the thin lobes of the calyx very incompletely enclosing the fruit; seed obtuse-edged.--Sparingly naturalized in the Eastern States. (Adv. from Eu.)

C. ALBUM, L. (LAMB'S-QUARTERS. PIGWEED.) Erect (1--4 deg. high), _more or less mealy; leaves varying from rhombic-ovate to lanceolate_ or the uppermost even linear, acute, _all or only the lower more or less angulate-toothed_; clusters spiked-panicled, mostly dense; calyx (3/4'' wide in fruit) with strongly carinate lobes, nearly or quite covering the seed.--Introduced everywhere. (Nat. from Eu.)--Var. VIRIDE, Moq., more common eastward, is less mealy and with less dense inflorescence.

C. URBICUM, L. Rather pale or dull green, nearly destitute of mealiness, with erect branches (1--3 deg. high); _leaves_ triangular, acute, _coarsely and sharply many-toothed; spikes erect, crowded in a long and narrow racemose panicle_; calyx-lobes not keeled; _seed with rounded margins_.--Apparently throughout our range. (Nat. from Eu.)

C. MURALE, L. Resembles the preceding, but less erect, loosely branched (1--2 deg. high); _leaves rhomboid-ovate_, acute, _coarsely and sharply unequally toothed_, thin, bright green; _spikes or racemes diverging, somewhat corymbed_; calyx-lobes scarcely keeled; _seed sharp-edged_.--From N. Eng. to Mich, and Mo. (Adv. from Eu.)

3. C. hybridum, L. (MAPLE-LEAVED GOOSEFOOT.) Bright green throughout; stem widely much branched (2--4 deg. high); _leaves thin_ (2--6' long), somewhat triangular and heart shaped, taper-pointed, _sinuate-angled_, the angles extending into a _few large and pointed teeth_; racemes diffusely and loosely panicled, leafless; calyx not fully covering the fruit, its lobes keeled.--Indigenous from western N. Y. and Ky., westward across the continent; introduced eastward.

Sec. 2. _Annual or perennial herbs, somewhat mealy, not glandular-pubescent; fruiting calyx dry; seed large, subglobose, vertical, exserted; embryo a complete ring._

C. GLAUCUM, L. (OAK-LEAVED GOOSEFOOT.) _Low_ (5--12' high), _spreading, glaucous-mealy; leaves sinuately pinnatifid-toothed_, oblong, obtuse, pale green above; _clusters in axillary spikes_, small; _seed sharp-edged_.--Throughout our range and westward. (Nat. from Eu.)

C. BONUS-HENRICUS, L. (GOOD-KING-HENRY.) _Stout, erect_ (1--2 deg. high), mostly simple; _leaves broadly triangular-hastate_ (2--3' long), obtuse or acute, _subsinuate or entire; flowers somewhat densely paniculately spiked; seed with obtuse edges_. (Blitum Bonus-Henricus, _Reichenb._)--Sparingly introduced. (Adv. from Eu.)

Sec. 3. _Annual, glabrous; calyx more or less fleshy in fruit and often colored, enclosing the utricle; seed mostly vertical; embryo a complete ring; flowers in crowded clusters, axillary or in spikes._

4. C. rubrum, L. (COAST BLITE.) Stem angled, much branched; leaves thickish, triangular-lanceolate, tapering below into a wedge-shaped base and above into a slender point, sparingly and coarsely toothed, the upper linear-lanceolate; _clusters scattered in axillary leafy spikes; calyx-lobes 2--4, rather fleshy_; stamens 1--2; seed shining, the margin acute. (Blitum maritimum, _Nutt._)--Sea-coast of Northern States, and in saline places to Minn. (Eu.)

5. C. capitatum, Watson. (STRAWBERRY BLITE.) Stem ascending, branching; leaves triangular and somewhat halberd-shaped, sinuate-toothed; _clusters simple (large), interruptedly spiked, the upper leafless; stamens 1--5; calyx berry-like_ in fruit; seed ovoid, flattish, smooth, with a very narrow margin. (Blitum capitatum, _L._)--Dry rich ground, along the Great Lakes, northward and westward. The calyx becomes pulpy and bright red in fruit, when the large clusters look like strawberries. (Eu.)

Sec. 4. _Annual, not mealy, but more or less glandular-pubescent, aromatic; calyx 2--3-parted, dry in fruit; seed often vertical; embryo not a complete ring._

C. BOTRYS, L. (JERUSALEM OAK. FEATHER GERANIUM.) Glandular-pubescent and viscid; _leaves slender-petioled_, oblong, obtuse, sinuate-pinnatifid; _racemes cymose-diverging, loose, leafless_; fruit not perfectly enclosed.--Widely introduced. (Nat. from Eu.)

C. AMBROSIOIDES, L. (MEXICAN TEA.) Smoothish; _leaves slightly petioled_, oblong or lanceolate, repand-toothed or nearly entire, the upper tapering to both ends; _spikes densely flowered, leafy_, or intermixed with leaves; fruit perfectly enclosed in the calyx.--Waste places, common throughout our range, especially southward. (Nat. from Trop. Amer.)

Var. ANTHELMINTICUM, Gray. (WORMSELD.) Leaves more strongly toothed, the lower sometimes almost laciniate-pinnatifid; _spikes more elongated, mostly leafless_.--From Long Island and southward, west to Wisc. and Tex. (Nat. from Trop. Amer.)

4. ROUBIEVA, Moquin.

Flowers minute, perfect or pistillate, solitary or 2--3 together in the axils. Calyx urceolate, 3--5-toothed, becoming enlarged and saccate, contracted at the apex and enclosing the fruit. Stamens 5, included; styles 3, exserted. Fruit membranaceous, compressed, glandular-dotted. Seed vertical. Embryo annular.--Perennial glandular herb, with alternate pinnatifid leaves.

R. MULTIFIDA, Moq. Prostrate or ascending, branching and leafy; leaves lanceolate to linear (1/2--11/2' long), deeply pinnatifid with narrow lobes; fruiting calyx obovate. (Chenopodium multifidum, _L._)--Sparingly introduced in the Atlantic States. (Adv. from S. Amer.)

5. ATRIPLEX, Tourn. ORACHE.

Flowers monoecious or dioecious; the staminate like the flowers of Chenopodium, but sterile by the abortion of the pistil; the fertile consisting simply of a naked pistil enclosed between a pair of appressed foliaceous bracts, which are enlarged in fruit, and sometimes united. Seed vertical. Embryo coiled into a ring around the albumen. In one section, including the Garden Orache, there are some fertile flowers with a calyx, like the staminate, but without stamens, and with horizontal seeds.--Herbs (ours annuals) usually mealy or scurfy with bran-like scales, with spiked-clustered flowers; in summer and autumn. (The ancient Latin name, a corruption of the Greek, [Greek: a)tra/phaxis].)

A. ROSEUM, L. Hoary-mealy; leaves short-petioled or the upper sessile, rhombic-ovate or oblong with a wedge-shaped base, coarsely sinuate-toothed; fertile flowers mostly clustered in the axils; fruiting bracts broad, often cut-toothed and warty.--Sparingly introduced at the east. (Adv. from Eu.)

1. A. patulum, L. Erect or prostrate (1--4 deg. high), dark green and glabrous or somewhat scurfy; leaves narrowly lanceolate hastate (1--4' long), the lower sometimes opposite, entire or sparingly sinuate-dentate, petioled, the upper lanceolate to linear; flowers clustered in rather slender spikes, the two kinds together or separate; fruiting bracts ovate-triangular or rhombic-hastate, entire or toothed, often muricate on the back, united to near the middle.--Very variable. The typical form scarcely occurs except as naturalized from Europe.--Var. HASTATUM, Gray. Erect or spreading, stout, at least the lower leaves broadly triangular-hastate, often coarsely and irregularly toothed. Salt and brackish places, on the coast from Can. to Va., along the Great Lakes, and far westward.--Var. LITTORALE, Gray. Slender; leaves linear-lanceolate to linear, rarely subhastate or toothed. Canada to N. J., and westward along the Great Lakes.--Var. SUBSPICATUM, Watson. A low erect and often simple form (3--12' high), usually quite scurfy; leaves lanceolate-hastate (1/2--1' long). Minn. to central Kan., and westward.

2. A. arenarium, Nutt. _Silvery-mealy_, diffusely spreading; leaves oblong, narrowed at base, nearly sessile; fruiting bracts broadly wedge-shaped, united, 3-nerved, 2--5 toothed at the summit, and usually strongly muricate and reticulate on the sides.--Sandy beaches, along the coast, Mass. to Fla.

3. A. argenteum, Nutt. Usually low, much branched, gray-scurfy, leafy; leaves deltoid or subrhombic, often subhastate; staminate flowers in terminal spikes; fruiting bracts round-rhombic, indurated, united, the free margins more or less dilated and deeply toothed, the sides variously appendaged.--Red River Valley, Minn., south and westward.

6. CORISPERMUM, A. Juss. BUG-SEED.

Flowers perfect, single and sessile in the axils of the upper leaves reduced to bracts, usually forming a spike. Calyx of a single delicate sepal on the inner side. Stamens 1 or 2, rarely 5. Styles 2. Fruit oval, flat, with the outer face rather convex and the inner concave, sharp-margined, a _caryopsis_, i.e. the thin pericarp adherent to the vertical seed. Embryo slender, coiled around a central albumen.--Low branching annuals, with narrow linear alternate 1-nerved leaves. (Name formed of [Greek: ko/ris], _a bug_, and [Greek: spe/rma], _seed_.)

1. C. hyssopifolium, L. Somewhat hairy when young, pale; floral leaves or bracts awl-shaped from a dilated base or the upper ovate and pointed, scarious-margined; fruit wing-margined.--Sandy beaches along the Great Lakes, central Neb., Tex., and westward.--Leaves usually pungent.

7. SALICORNIA, Tourn. GLASSWORT. SAMPHIRE.

Flowers perfect, 3 together immersed in each hollow of the thickened upper joints, forming a spike; the two lateral sometimes sterile. Calyx small and bladder-like, with a toothed or torn margin, at length spongy and narrowly wing-bordered, enclosing the flattened thin utricle. Stamens 1 or 2. Styles 2, united at base. Seed vertical, without albumen. Embryo thick, the cotyledons incumbent upon the radicle.--Low saline plants, with succulent leafless jointed stems, and opposite branches; the flower-bearing branchlets forming the spikes. (Name composed of _sal_, salt, and _cornu_, a horn; saline plants with horn-like branches.)

1. S. mucronata, Bigel. Annual, erect, stout, naked below (2--12' high), _turning red_ in age; _spikes thick, closely jointed; scales mucronate-pointed and conspicuous_, especially when dry; _middle flower half higher than the lateral ones_ or less, occupying nearly the whole length of the joint; fruit pubescent; seed 1/2--3/4'' long. (S. Virginica, _Gray_, Manual; not _L._)--Sea-coast from N. Scotia to Va.

2. S. herbacea, L. Annual, erect or at length spreading (6--18' high), _green; scales obscure and very blunt_, making a truncate barely emarginate termination of _the longer joints_ of the stem or _elongated narrower spikes_; middle flower much higher than the lateral ones, slightly shorter than the joint; fruit pubescent; seed {2/3}--1'' long.--Salt marshes of the coast and interior salt springs, and alkaline localities.

3. S. ambigua, Michx. Numerous tufted stems (3--12' long) decumbent or ascending from a hard and rather _woody creeping base or rootstock_, greenish, turning lead-colored; _spikes slender, short-jointed, the scales short, acutish or acute; flowers nearly equal in height_ and equalling the joint; seed pubescent, {1/3}'' long. (S. fruticosa, var. ambigua, _Gray_, Manual.)--Sea-coast, Mass. to Fla. and Tex.

8. SUAEDA, Forskal. SEA BLITE.

Flowers perfect, sessile in the axils of leafy bracts. Calyx 5-parted, fleshy, enclosing the fruit (utricle) and often carinate or crested. Stamens 5. Stigmas 2 or 3. Seed vertical or horizontal, with a flat-spiral embryo, dividing the scanty albumen (when there is any) into two portions.--Fleshy saline plants, with alternate nearly terete linear leaves. (An Arabic name.)

1. S. linearis, Moq. Annual, prostrate or usually erect, 1--2 deg. high, branched; _leaves narrow at base_, 1/2--2' long, acute; floral bracts acuminate, on slender branchlets; sepals very thick; anthers exserted; seed horizontal, round-oval, black, 1/2'' broad. (S. maritima, _Gray_; not _Dumort_.)--Sea-coast, N. Scotia to Fla.--A doubtful form of E. Mass. has the bracts and shorter leaves obtuse, larger flowers on less slender branchlets, and reddish seeds nearly 1'' broad.

2. S. depressa, Watson. _Annual, decumbent_ or erect, branching from the base; _leaves broadest at base_, the cauline 3--12'' long, the floral lanceolate to ovate; one or more of the calyx-lobes _very strongly carinate or crested_.--Saline soil, Red River Valley, Minn., to Col., and westward.

9. SALSOLA, L. SALTWORT.

Flowers perfect, with 2 bractlets. Calyx 5-parted, persistent and enclosing the depressed fruit in its base; its divisions at length horizontally winged on the back, the wings forming a broad and circular scarious border. Stamens mostly 5. Styles 2. Seed horizontal, without albumen, filled by the embryo, which is coiled in a conical spiral (cochleate).--Herbs or slightly shrubby branching plants of the sea-shore, with fleshy and rather terete or awl-shaped leaves, and sessile axillary flowers. (Diminutive of _salsus_, salty.)

1. S. Kali, L. (COMMON SALTWORT.) Annual, diffusely branching, bushy, rough or smoothish; leaves all alternate, awl-shaped, prickly-pointed; flowers single; calyx with the converging lobes forming a sort of beak over the fruit, the large rose or flesh-colored wings nearly orbicular and spreading.--Sandy sea-shore, N. Eng. to Ga. Aug. (Eu.) (Addendum)--Salsola Kali. This species has been found in Emmet Co., Iowa (_Cratty_), at Yankton, Dak. (_Bruhin_), and in river-bottoms in N. W. Neb. and central Dak.

ORDER 88. PHYTOLACCACEAE. (POKEWEED FAMILY.)

_Plants with alternate entire leaves and perfect flowers, having the general characters of_ Chenopodiaceae, _but usually a several-celled ovary composed of as many carpels united in a ring, and forming a berry in fruit._

1. PHYTOLACCA, Tourn. POKEWEED.

Calyx of 5 rounded and petal like sepals. Stamens 5--30. Ovary of 5--12 carpels, united in a ring, with as many short separate styles, in fruit forming a depressed globose 5--12-celled berry, with a single vertical seed in each cell. Embryo curved in a ring around the albumen.--Tall and stout perennial herbs, with large petioled leaves, and terminal racemes which become lateral and opposite the leaves. (Name compounded of [Greek: phyto/n], _plant_, and the French _lac_, lake, in allusion to the crimson coloring matter which the berries yield.)

1. P. decandra, L. (COMMON POKE or SCOKE. GARGET. PIGEON-BERRY.) Stamens and styles 10.--Low grounds. July--Sept.--A smooth plant, with a rather unpleasant odor, and a very large poisonous root, often 4--6' in diameter, sending up stout stalks at length 6--9 deg. high; calyx white; ovary green; berries in long racemes, dark-purple and filled with crimson juice, ripe in autumn.

ORDER 89. POLYGONACEAE. (BUCKWHEAT FAMILY.)

_Herbs, with alternate entire leaves, and stipules in the form of sheaths_ (ocreae, these sometimes obsolete) _above the swollen joints of the stem; the flowers mostly perfect, with a more or less persistent calyx, a 1-celled ovary bearing 2 or 3 styles or stigmas, and a single erect orthotropous seed._ Fruit usually an achene, compressed or 3--4-angled or -winged. Embryo curved or straightish, on the outside of the albumen, or rarely in its centre. Stamens 4--12, inserted on the base of the 3--6-cleft calyx. (Juice often acrid, sometimes agreeably acid, as in Sorrel; the roots, as in Rhubarb, sometimes cathartic.)

[*] Flowers involucrate; stamens 9; stipules none.

1. Eriogonum. Involucre several-flowered, with flowers exserted. Calyx 6-cleft.

[*][*] Flowers without involucre; stamens 4 to 8.

[+] Stipular sheaths manifest; ovule erect from the base of the cell.

[++] Sepals 4 or 6, the outer row reflexed, the inner erect and enlarging in fruit.

2. Oxyria. Sepals 4. Stigmas 2. Achene orbicular-winged. Leaves reniform.

3. Rumex. Sepals 6. Stigmas 3. Achene 3-angled.

[++][++] Sepals 5 (sometimes 4), equal and erect in fruit. Achene triangular or lenticular.

4. Polygonum. Embryo slender, curved around one side of the albumen. Pedicels mostly fascicled.

5. Fagopyrum. Embryo in the albumen, its very broad cotyledons twisted-plaited.

6. Polygonella. Embryo slender, nearly straight. Pedicels solitary. Leaves jointed at base.

[+][+] Stipules obsolete; ovule hanging from the apex of a slender stalk.

7. Brunnichia. Calyx 5-parted, in fruit with a wing decurrent on the pedicel. Tendril-climber.

1. ERIOGONUM, Michx.

Flowers perfect, involucrate; involucre 4--8-toothed or lobed, usually many-flowered; the more or less exserted pedicels intermixed with narrow scarious bracts. Calyx 6-parted or -cleft, colored, persistent about the achene. Stamens 9, upon the base of the calyx. Styles 3; stigmas capitate. Achene triangular. Embryo straight and axile, with foliaceous cotyledons.--Annuals or perennials, with radical or alternate or whorled entire leaves, without stipules. (Name from [Greek: e)/rion], _wool_, and [Greek: go/ny], _knee_.)