[Sidenote: =Wild Buckwheat=
_Eriógonum racemòsum_
=Pink, white
Summer
Ariz., Utah=]
A pretty desert variety of Wild Buckwheat. The pale downy stem is from
one to two feet tall, rather stout, with two or three erect branches
at the top, and the leaves are all from the base, gray-green in color
and covered with close white down on the under side. The small white
and pink flowers are clustered along the branches in small heads, with
reddish involucres, forming a spike about three inches long. The whole
effect of the plant is curiously pale, but quite pretty. It grows
plentifully on the rim of the Grand Canyon.
There are many kinds of Polygonum, East and West, many of them
insignificant, some aquatic, some woody at base, with alternate leaves,
and sheathing stipules; the sepals four or five; the stamens five to
nine; the style with two or three branches and round-top stigmas.
The name is from the Greek, meaning "many knees," in allusion to the
swollen joints of some kinds.
[Sidenote: =Knot-weed
Alpine Smartweed=
_Polýgonum bistortoìdes_
=White
Summer
West=]
This is about two feet tall, very pretty and rather conspicuous, and
the general effect of the smooth stem and sheathing, green leaves is
somewhat grasslike. The flowers, which are small and cream-white, with
pretty stamens and pinkish bracts, grow in close, roundish, pointed
heads, an inch or two long, at the tips of the stalks. The buds are
pink and the heads in which the flowers have not yet come out look as
if they were made of pink beads. This is an attractive plant, growing
among the tall grasses in mountain meadows, and smells deliciously of
honey.