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close-flower knotweed, close-flower knotweed (ssp. confertiflorum), Kellogg's knotweed (ssp. kelloggii), milkwort knotweed, polygala knotweed, whitemargin knotweed

Habit Herbs.
Stems

erect, green, usually divaricately branched, rarely simple, ± wiry, (2–)6–20(–25) cm, glabrous.

Leaves

uniformly distributed, articulated to ocreae, basal leaves often caducous, distal leaves abruptly reduced to bracts;

ocrea 4–8 mm, glabrous, proximal part cylindric, distal part silvery, with inconspicuous veins, lacerate;

petiole absent;

blade 3-veined, lateral veins sometimes inconspicuous, without pleats, narrowly linear, 10–40 × 1–2.5 mm, margins ± revolute, smooth, apex acute or mucronate.

Inflorescences

axillary and terminal, spikelike, subglobose to cylindric;

cymes in most axils or crowded distally, 1–3-flowered.

Pedicels

enclosed in ocreae, erect, 0.1–2 mm, sometimes absent.

Flowers

mostly closed;

perianth 1.5–3 mm;

tube 19–40% of perianth length;

tepals overlapping, uniformly white, pink, or red, petaloid, oblong-lanceolate, ± navicular, apex acute to acuminate;

midveins usually unbranched or with 2 lateral branches proximally, moderately to strongly thickened, tepals appearing ± keeled;

stamens 3–8.

Achenes

enclosed in perianth, light yellow, light brown, or greenish brown to dark brown, ovate to lanceolate, 1.3–2.5 mm, faces subequal, shiny or dull, smooth or reticulate with longitudinal ridges.

Polygonum polygaloides

Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 4 (4 in the flora).

J. C. Hickman’s (1993c) treatment of the Polygonum polygaloides complex is provisionally accepted here. Most of the intermediate specimens occur between subspp. confertiflorum, esotericum, and kelloggii. Alternatively, P. polygaloides could be recognized in the narrow sense and the three other taxa could be treated as subspecies of a separate P. kelloggii, the earliest available binomial.

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

Key
1. Margins of bracts green, if white then scarious border less than 0.2 mm wide
→ 2
1. Margins of bracts white, scarious border (0.2-)0.25-1 mm wide
→ 3
2. Achenes lanceolate, 2-2.5 mm; bracts elliptic-lanceolate, appressed, rigid; stamens 5-8
subsp. esotericum
2. Achenes ovate, 1.3-1.7 mm; bracts linear to linear-lanceolate, ± patent, soft; stamens 3
subsp. kelloggii
3. Inflorescences narrowly cylindric, continuous from bases of branches or stems; achenes 2-2.5 mm, lanceolate
subsp. esotericum
3. Inflorescences round to ovate or cylindric, confined to tips of branches, rarely continuous from bases of branches or stems; achenes 1.3-2.1 mm, ovate-lanceolate to ovate
→ 4
4. Inflorescences round to ovate; scarious borders of bracts 0.5-1 mm wide; stamens8
subsp. polygaloides
4. Inflorescences ovate to cylindric; scarious borders of bracts 0.25-0.4 mm wide; stamens 3
subsp. confertiflorum
Source FNA vol. 5, p. 565.
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. minimum, P. nuttallii, P. oxyspermum, P. paronychia, P. parryi, P. patulum, P. plebeium, P. ramosissimum, P. sawatchense, P. shastense, P. spergulariiforme, P. striatulum, P. tenue, P. utahense
Subordinate taxa
P. polygaloides subsp. confertiflorum, P. polygaloides subsp. esotericum, P. polygaloides subsp. kelloggii, P. polygaloides subsp. polygaloides
Name authority Meisner: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 14: 101. (1856)
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