goes her rounds and adds to her store of honey, she continually
fertilizes fresh flowers and perpetuates the race of autumnal
spiranthes, which will yield honey to future generations of bees."




BUCKWHEAT FAMILY _(Polygonaceae)_


Common Persicaria, Pink Knotweed, or Jointweed; Smartweed

_Polygonum pennsylvanicum_

_Flowers_--Very small, pink, collected in terminal, dense, narrow obtuse
spikes, 1 to 2 in. long. Calyx pink or greenish, 5-parted, like petals;
no corolla; stamens 8 _or_ less; style 2-parted. _Stem:_ 1 to 3 ft.
high, simple or branched; often partly red, the joints swollen and
sheathed; the branches above, and peduncles glandular. _Leaves:_ Oblong,
lance-shaped, entire edged, 2 to 11 in. long, with stout midrib, sharply
tapering at tip, rounded into short petioles below.

_Preferred Habitat_--Waste places, roadsides, moist soil.

_Flowering Season_--July-October.

_Distribution_--Nova Scotia to the Gulf of Mexico; westward to Texas and
Minnesota.

Everywhere we meet this commonest of plants or some of its similar kin,