Polygonum polygaloides |
Polygonum californicum |
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close-flower knotweed, close-flower knotweed (ssp. confertiflorum), Kellogg's knotweed (ssp. kelloggii), milkwort knotweed, polygala knotweed, whitemargin knotweed |
California knotweed |
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Habit | Herbs. | Herbs. | ||||||||||||||||
Stems | erect, green, usually divaricately branched, rarely simple, ± wiry, (2–)6–20(–25) cm, glabrous. |
erect, green, simple or divaricately branched, ± wiry, 4–40 cm, papillose-scabridulous. |
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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. |
uniformly distributed, not articulated to ocreae, basal leaves usually caducous, distal leaves abruptly reduced to bracts; ocrea 5–10 mm, glabrous or papillose-scabridulous, proximal part cylindric, distal part white or tawny, disintegrating into ± bristly-fringed fibers; petiole absent; blade 3-veined, without pleats, linear, 5–25(–30) × 0.5–2 mm, margins revolute, papillose-denticulate or smooth, apex mucronate or weakly spine-tipped. |
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Inflorescences | axillary and terminal, spikelike, subglobose to cylindric; cymes in most axils or crowded distally, 1–3-flowered. |
axillary; cymes in distal axils, 1-flowered. |
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Pedicels | enclosed in ocreae, erect, 0.1–2 mm, sometimes absent. |
absent. |
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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. |
open or closed; perianth 2.5–3.5 mm; tube 10–20% of perianth length; tepals overlapping, uniformly white to pink, petaloid, elliptic, navicular, apex acute to acuminate; midveins unbranched; stamens 8. |
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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. |
enclosed in or slightly exserted from perianth, brown, narrowly elliptic, 1.8–2.2 mm, faces subequal, shiny, smooth. |
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Polygonum polygaloides |
Polygonum californicum |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Sep. | |||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Open places, including serpentine | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 40-1200 m (100-3900 ft) | |||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
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CA; OR
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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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 565. | FNA vol. 5, p. 564. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Polygonum > sect. Duravia | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Polygonum > sect. Duravia | ||||||||||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Duravia californica, P. greenei | |||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Meisner: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 14: 101. (1856) | Meisner: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 14: 100. (1856) | ||||||||||||||||
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