Botanical Magazine 106 - 1880.pdf - hibiscus.org

TAB. 6472.
POLYGONTTM AFFINE.
Native of the Himalaya.
Nat. Ord. POLYGONACE^:.•Tribe EUPOLYGONEJE.
Genus POLYGONUM, Linn.; (Benth. et Rook. f. Gen. PI. vol. iii. p. 97 [ined.].)
PotYGONTTM (Bistorta) affine ; caule humili prostrato ligno bypogo ramoso, ramis
brevibus fasciculatis, foliis plerisque radicalibus anhuste elliptico-lanceo-
latis v. oblanceolatis obtusis v. acutis in petiolum brevem v. elongatum angns-
tatis marginibus recurría crispito-crenulatis tenuiter reticulatim venons,
caulinis parvis elliptico-lanceolatis acutis sessilibus, caulibus floriferis erectis
4•8 pollicaribus foliosis, racemis spiciformibus solitariis cylindraceis eompactis,
floribus roséis, periantbii explanati segmentis ellipticis v. obovatis obtusis,
filamentis 8 stylisque 3 filiformibus.
P. affine, Don Prodr. p. 70 ; Babintjt. in Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. xviii. p. 97.
P. Donianum, Spreng. Syst., Cur. Post. p. 154.
P. Brunonis, Wall. Cat. 1692 ; Boyle III. PI. Himal. p. 317, t. 80 ; Meissn. in
Wall. PI. As. Bar. vol. iii. p. 54 ; Paxt. FI. Gard. t. 37 ; Lemaire Jard.
Fleur, t. 117.
The erect herbaceous perennial Polygona of the section
Bistorta, form one of the most beautiful features of the sub-
Alpine Himalayan Flora, ornamenting the wet river banks
and meadows, where growing amongst the grass they con-
tribute much to the herbage, or hanging in rosy clumps from
the moist precipices. P. affine is one of the latter set ; it
abounds in the Himalayan valleys from Kumaon westward
to Kashmir, growing at elevations of 9,000 to 14,000 feet,
but has not been found in Nepal, as often stated. In the
Eastern Himalaya and in the Khasia Mountains it is replaced
by P. paleaceum, "Wall., a plant not recorded in Meissner's
monograph of the genus in De Candolle's Prodromus, and
which is perhaps referable to his P. sph•i'ostachyum. An-
other and a very beautiful ally of these is P. vacciniifoJium,
Wall. (tab. nostr. 4622), which is one of the most orna-
mental rock-plants ever introduced into this country.
Polygonum affine has been long cultivated at Kew, and
flowers freely in the open border in September and October.
J.vxr.vRY 1ST, 1880. -