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Alaska wild-rhubarb

Habit Plants (30–)50–150(–200) cm.
Stems

erect, glabrous or densely and retrorsely pubescent.

Leaves

ocrea reddish brown, funnelform, 1–2.2 cm, margins oblique, glabrous or pilose;

petiole 0.8–3.5(–4) mm;

blade narrowly lanceolate to ovate, 5–20 × 2–8 cm, not subcoriaceous, base truncate or obtuse to subcordate, margins sometimes irregularly undulate, ciliate or, rarely, glabrous, apex acuminate, faces not glaucous, glabrous or pubescent.

Inflorescences

terminal, sometimes also axillary, paniclelike;

peduncle 0–4 cm, glabrous or pubescent.

Pedicels

0.5–0.1 mm.

Flowers

2–4 per ocreate fascicle, all flowers with stamens well developed;

perianth white or greenish white, 2–4 mm;

tepals dimorphic, rarely slightly so, ovate, apex obtuse;

anthers yellow to pink.

Achenes

included or exserted, tan to grayish brown, not beaked distally, 2.6–3.8 × 2–3 mm, shiny, faces usually not concave.

2n

= 20.

Aconogonon alaskanum

Distribution
from FNA
AK; NT; YT; Europe (e Russia)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Aconogonon alaskanum has been considered conspecific with the morphologically similar Eurasian A. alpinum (Allioni) Schur, but the taxa differ in leaf size and achene characters. Nomenclatural issues were clarified by J. T. Kartesz and K. N. Gandhi (1990) and K. L. Chambers (1992).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Leaf blades pubescent; stems usually densely and retrorsely pubescent
var. alaskanum
1. Leaf blades glabrous except for margins; stems mostly glabrous, rarely pubescent proximal to nodes
var. glabrescens
Source FNA vol. 5, p. 598.
Parent taxa Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Aconogonon
Sibling taxa
A. davisiae, A. phytolaccifolium
Subordinate taxa
A. alaskanum var. alaskanum, A. alaskanum var. glabrescens
Synonyms Polygonum alpinum var. alaskanum, Polygonum alaskanum, Polygonum alpinum subsp. alaskanum
Name authority (Small) Soják: Preslia 46: 150. (1974)
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