Polygonum polygaloides
Encyclopedia
Polygonum polygaloides is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family
known by the common names milkwort knotweed and polygala knotweed. It is native to much of western North America, where it can be found in many types of moist habitat. It is a variable species, usually divided into a number of subspecies.
s which fuse to form silvery ochrea
at the leaf bases. The flowers are mainly located in clusters around the stem tips. They are white, pink, or red, and most remain closed.
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 names milkwort knotweed and polygala knotweed. It is native to much of western North America, where it can be found in many types of moist habitat. It is a variable species, usually divided into a number of subspecies.
Description
In general Polygonum polygaloides is an annual herb producing slender, wiry green stems 1 to 30 centimeters in length. The linear or lance-shaped leaves are alternately arranged uniformly along the stem, the ones near the tips of stem branches highly reduced. The leaves have membranous stipuleStipule
In botany, stipule is a term coined by Linnaeus which refers to outgrowths borne on either side of the base of a leafstalk...
s which fuse to form silvery 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....
at the leaf bases. The flowers are mainly located in clusters around the stem tips. They are white, pink, or red, and most remain closed.