Polygonum polygaloides |
Polygonum cascadense |
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close-flower knotweed, close-flower knotweed (ssp. confertiflorum), Kellogg's knotweed (ssp. kelloggii), milkwort knotweed, polygala knotweed, whitemargin knotweed |
Cascade knotweed |
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Habit | Herbs. | Herbs. | ||||||||||||||||
Stems | erect, green, usually divaricately branched, rarely simple, ± wiry, (2–)6–20(–25) cm, glabrous. |
spreading to erect, zigzagged, green, simple or branched from base, wiry, 5–12(–15) cm, glabrous. |
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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, articulated to ocreae, basal leaves persistent, distal leaves abruptly reduced to bracts; ocrea 2–5 mm, glabrous, proximal part funnelform, distal part lacerate; petiole essentially absent; blade 1-veined, not pleated, oblanceolate to obovate, 5–20 × 2–5 mm, margins revolute, never touching along midrib, sparsely papillose-denticulate, apex rounded or apiculate. |
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Inflorescences | axillary and terminal, spikelike, subglobose to cylindric; cymes in most axils or crowded distally, 1–3-flowered. |
axillary and terminal, spikelike, dense; cymes congested at tips of stems and branches, 3–5-flowered. |
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Pedicels | enclosed in ocreae, erect, 0.1–2 mm, sometimes absent. |
enclosed in ocreae, erect to spreading, 2–3 mm. |
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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; perianth 2–2.5 mm; tube 12–25% of perianth length; tepals overlapping, uniformly white, petaloid, oblong to obovate, cucullate, navicular in distal 1/4, apex rounded; 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 exserted from perianth, black, ovate to ovate-oblong, 1.8–2.1 mm, faces subequal, shiny, smooth. |
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Polygonum polygaloides |
Polygonum cascadense |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Sep. | |||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Dry, usually rocky slopes, often on serpentine | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 1600-1800 m (5200-5900 ft) | |||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
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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. 571. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Polygonum > sect. Duravia | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Polygonum > sect. Duravia | ||||||||||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Meisner: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 14: 101. (1856) | W. H. Baker: Madroño 10: 62, plate 1, fig. 1. (1949) | ||||||||||||||||
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