Polygonum parryi
Encyclopedia
Polygonum parryi is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family
known by the common name Parry's knotweed. It is native to the western United States from Washington to California
, where it grows in several types of moist, open habitat in mountainous and coastal areas.
which forms a fringed, fibrous ochrea
around the base of the leaf. White flowers less than 2 millimeters wide occur in the leaf axils.
Polygonaceae
Polygonaceae is a family of flowering plants known informally as the "knotweed family" or "smartweed family"— "buckwheat family" in the United States. The name is based on the genus Polygonum and was first used by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1789 in his book, Genera Plantarum. The name refers...
known by the common name Parry's knotweed. It is native to the western United States from Washington to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, where it grows in several types of moist, open habitat in mountainous and coastal areas.
Description
It is a small annual herb forming mats or cushions of short, angled stems growing erect to 7 or 8 centimeters in maximum height. The greenish brown stems are lined densely and evenly with linear, spine-tipped leaves. The lowest leaves are longest, reaching up to 2 centimeters long, while leaves near the branch tips are small and scale-like. Each leaf has a thin, wide stipuleStipule
In botany, stipule is a term coined by Linnaeus which refers to outgrowths borne on either side of the base of a leafstalk...
which forms a fringed, fibrous ochrea
Ochrea
Ochrea, commonly spelled ocrea, is a structure formed of stipules fused into a sheath surrounding the stem. It is a diagnostic character in the Polygonaceae.In palms it denotes an extension of the leaf sheath beyond the petiole insertion....
around the base of the leaf. White flowers less than 2 millimeters wide occur in the leaf axils.