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broad-leaf knotweed, broad-leaf or leafy dwarf knotweed, leafy dwarf knotweed, little mountain knotweed, zigzag knotweed

Habit Herbs.
Stems

prostrate to erect, often zigzagged, reddish brown, simple or branched from base, wiry, 2–30 cm, papillose-scabrid-ulous.

Leaves

evenly distributed or crowded at branch tips, articulated to ocreae, basal leaves persistent, hardly reduced distally;

ocrea 1–4 mm, papillose-scabridulous, proximal part cylindric, distal part entire or dentate-lacerate;

petiole 0.1–3 mm;

blade 1-veined, not pleated, narrowly elliptic, elliptic, ovate, obovate, or subround, 6–27 × 3–8 mm, margins flat, smooth, irregularly thickened or papillose-denticulate, apex apiculate, green adaxially.

Inflorescences

axillary;

cymes from near stem and branch bases, sometimes also crowded at branch apices, 1–3-flowered.

Pedicels

enclosed in ocreae, erect to spreading, 2–3 mm.

Flowers

semi-open or closed;

perianth 1.8–2.5 mm;

tube 22–29% of perianth length;

tepals overlapping, greenish with narrow white or pink margins, almost sepaloid, oblong, cucullate, ± navicular, apex rounded;

midveins thickened, unbranched;

stamens 8.

Achenes

enclosed in perianth or tip exserted, black, elliptic to ovate, 1.8–2.3 mm, faces subequal, smooth, shiny.

Polygonum minimum

Phenology Flowering Jul–Sep.
Habitat Alpine to subalpine sites, open or semibarren soil
Elevation 1500-3300 m (4900-10800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 5, p. 569.
Parent taxa Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Polygonum > sect. Duravia
Sibling taxa
P. achoreum, P. argyrocoleon, P. austiniae, P. aviculare, P. bidwelliae, P. bolanderi, P. californicum, P. cascadense, P. douglasii, P. engelmannii, P. erectum, P. fowleri, P. glaucum, P. heterosepalum, P. hickmanii, P. humifusum, P. majus, P. marinense, P. nuttallii, P. oxyspermum, P. paronychia, P. parryi, P. patulum, P. plebeium, P. polygaloides, P. ramosissimum, P. sawatchense, P. shastense, P. spergulariiforme, P. striatulum, P. tenue, P. utahense
Synonyms P. torreyi
Name authority S. Watson: Botany (Fortieth Parallel), 315. (1871)
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