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Polygonum

Article Discussion

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Polygonum is a genus of about 130 species of flowering plants in the buckwheat and knotweed family Polygonaceae. Common names include knotweed and knotgrass (though the common names may refer more broadly to plants from Polygonaceae). In the Middle English glossary of herbs Alphita (Template:Circa 1400–1425), it was known as ars-smerte.<ref>Middle English Dictionary</ref>Template:CN There have been various opinions about how broadly the genus should be defined. For example, buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) has sometimes been included in the genus as Polygonum fagopyrum. Former genera such as Polygonella have been subsumed into Polygonum; other genera have been split off.

The genus primarily grows in northern temperate regions. The species are very diverse, ranging from prostrate herbaceous annual plants to erect herbaceous perennial plants.

Polygonum species are occasionally eaten by humans, and are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species – see list. Most species are considered weeds in Europe and North America.

DescriptionEdit

When the genus is defined narrowly, Polygonum species are annual or perennial herbaceous plants, rarely shrubby, with much branched stems. The leaves are arranged alternately, usually less than Template:Cvt long, with a length greater than the width. They have a membranous ochrea (a sheath around the stem nodes). The flowers are usually bisexual, rarely unisexual, and have five (occasionally four) tepals, the outer being slightly different from the inner ones. There are usually four to six stamens and three (rarely two) styles. The fruit is three-sided.<ref name=NoguOrtiPaiv06>Template:Citation</ref>

TaxonomyEdit

The genus Polygonum was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1754. The genus name is usually said to be from the Greek {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (poly-, 'many') and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (gonu, 'knee' or 'joint'), in reference to the swollen jointed stem.<ref name=HyamPank95>Template:Cite book p. 404</ref><ref name=Coom94>Template:Cite book p. 148.</ref> However, long before Linnaeus, the name was used in Greek and Latin for a plant used medically. Discussing the plant he knew as polygonum in 1655, Matthias Martinius referred to Scribonius Largus (who wrote a list of prescriptions around 47 AD) and gave an alternative etymology, based on {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (gonos, 'offspring', 'seed'), the meaning of the name then being the Latin {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, i.e. 'fecund', 'with many offspring'.<ref name=Mart55>Template:Cite book</ref> The Flora of North America says that a derivation meaning 'many seeds' is the "grammatically correct interpretation".<ref name="FNA">Template:Cite book</ref>

Many members of the family Polygonaceae that are now placed in separate genera were at one time or other placed in Polygonum, including species of Fagopyrum, Fallopia, Persicaria and Reynoutria,<ref name=SchuReveBaylKron15/> and older sources frequently use much wider definitions of the genus. Molecular phylogenetic studies, particularly in the 21st century, have led to major changes. Clarifying the circumscription of genera split from Polygonum was described in 2015 as "still ongoing".<ref name=SchuReveBaylKron15/>

Classification and phylogenyEdit

Polygonum is placed in the tribe Polygoneae of the subfamily Polygonoideae. Within the tribe, it is most closely related to the genera Duma and Atraphaxis, forming the so-called "DAP clade".<ref name=SchuReveBaylKron15>Template:Citation</ref> Template:Polygoneae cladogram

SpeciesEdit

Between 65<ref name="fna">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and 300 species have been recognised at various times, depending on the circumscription of the genus. A number of species that had been included in Polygonum have been moved into several other genera, including Bistorta, Fagopyrum, Fallopia, Koenigia, Persicaria and Reynoutria. Other genera, such as Polygonella, have been subsumed into Polygonum.

Template:As of, Plants of the World Online accepted 129 species.<ref name=POWO_Polygonum>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Div col

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Reclassified speciesEdit

Many species formerly placed in Polygonum have been moved to other genera in the subfamily Polygonoideae. Some synonyms are listed below.<ref name=POWO_PolygonumSpp>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Polygonum species that have been reclassified as BistortaEdit

Polygonum species that have been reclassified as FagopyrumEdit

Polygonum species that have been reclassified as FallopiaEdit

Polygonum species that have been reclassified as KoenigiaEdit

Polygonum species that have been reclassified as PersicariaEdit

Polygonum species that have been reclassified as ReynoutriaEdit

Unresolved speciesEdit

UsesEdit

Several species can be eaten cooked,<ref>Knotweed at NorthernBushCraft</ref> for example during famines.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The species Polygonum cognatum, known locally as "madimak",<ref>See the preparation of one particular dish in Turkey using Polygonum cognatum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzNCO94rWXE</ref><ref>One more dish based on "madimak" polygonum cognatum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3cJk6ChPkY</ref> is regularly consumed in central parts of Turkey.

References in literatureEdit

In The Man Who Laughs Victor Hugo wrote of the Comprachicos (child-buyers) who created artificial dwarfs, formed "by anointing babies' spines with the grease of bats, moles and dormice" and using drugs such as "dwarf elder, knotgrass, and daisy juice". The idea of such use was also known to Shakespeare, as Beatrice K. Otto pointed out, quoting A Midsummer Night's Dream:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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