Family, Buckwheat. Color, light rose, almost white. Leaves, jointed at base, sheathing the stem, very narrow, alternate. September.

A beautiful plant, with thread-like stems and leaves, growing in sandy soil. The flowers (very small) are on jointed, slender stalks, in small racemes, 1 to 3 inches long. The leaves, sheathing the stems with thin, naked coverings, show that the plant is a buckwheat. The flowers have no corolla, but a 5-parted calyx. They are so minute that they can only be studied through a magnifying-glass. Plant 6 to 12 inches tall. It grows in pure sand along the railroads or by waysides, not far from the coast from Maine to Florida. Nothing can be more dainty than this fine, soft-foliaged little thing. (See illustration, p. 61.)

Coast jointweed (Polygomila articulata)

Coast jointweed (Polygomila articulata)