Polygonum polygaloides |
Polygonum shastense |
|||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
close-flower knotweed, close-flower knotweed (ssp. confertiflorum), Kellogg's knotweed (ssp. kelloggii), milkwort knotweed, polygala knotweed, whitemargin knotweed |
Shasta knotweed |
|||||||||||||||||
Habit | Herbs. | Subshrubs. | ||||||||||||||||
Stems | erect, green, usually divaricately branched, rarely simple, ± wiry, (2–)6–20(–25) cm, glabrous. |
prostrate to ascending, brown, branched, gnarled, not wiry, 5–40 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. |
± uniformly distributed, articulated to ocreae, basal leaves caducous or persistent, distal leaves not reduced in size; ocrea 3–5 mm, glabrous, proximal part cylindric, distal part membranous, deciduous with leaves; petiole 0–0.5 mm; blade 1-veined, without pleats, lanceolate to elliptic, 5–25 × 2–5 mm, coriaceous, margins revolute, smooth, apex acute. |
||||||||||||||||
Inflorescences | axillary and terminal, spikelike, subglobose to cylindric; cymes in most axils or crowded distally, 1–3-flowered. |
axillary; cymes in distal axils, 2–6-flowered. |
||||||||||||||||
Pedicels | enclosed in ocreae, erect, 0.1–2 mm, sometimes absent. |
enclosed in or slightly exserted from ocreae, erect, 2–4 mm. |
||||||||||||||||
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 semi-open; perianth 5–9 mm; tube 7–15% of perianth length, tepals partially overlapping, uniformly pink or white, petaloid, ovate to ovate-round, apex rounded; midveins with numerous branched lateral veins; stamens 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. |
enclosed in or slightly exserted from perianth, brown, narrowly ovate, 3–4 mm, faces subequal, shiny, smooth. |
||||||||||||||||
Polygonum polygaloides |
Polygonum shastense |
|||||||||||||||||
Phenology | Flowering Jul–Sep. | |||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Rocky or gravelly slopes | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 2100-3400 m (6900-11200 ft) | |||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK
|
CA; NV; OR
|
||||||||||||||||
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.) |
Polygonum shastense may be cultivated in rock gardens in rock crevices with favorable water regime and shaded in summer. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
||||||||||||||||
Key |
|
|||||||||||||||||
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 565. | FNA vol. 5, p. 563. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Polygonum > sect. Duravia | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Polygonum > sect. Duravia | ||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Meisner: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 14: 101. (1856) | W. H. Brewer: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 8: 400. (1872) | ||||||||||||||||
Web links |
|