The Polygonaceae are a family of flowering plants known informally as the knotweed family or smartweed—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 may refer to the many swollen nodes the stems of some species have, being derived from Greek [poly meaning 'many' and gony meaning 'knee' or 'joint']. Alternatively, it may have a different origin, meaning 'many seeds'.
Reynoutria japonica, synonyms Fallopia japonica and Polygonum cuspidatum, is a species of herbaceous perennial plant in the knotweed and buckwheat family Polygonaceae. Common names include Japanese knotweed and Asian knotweed. It is native to East Asia in Japan, China and Korea. In North America and Europe, the species has successfully established itself in numerous habitats, and is classified as a pest and invasive species in several countries. The plant is popular with beekeepers, and its young stems are edible, making it an increasingly popular foraged vegetable with a flavour described as lemony rhubarb.
Polygonum is a genus of about 130 species of flowering plants in the buckwheat and knotweed family Polygonaceae. Common names include knotweed and knotgrass. In the Middle English glossary of herbs Alphita, it was known as ars-smerte. There have been various opinions about how broadly the genus should be defined. For example, buckwheat 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.
Fallopia is a genus of about 12 species of flowering plants in the buckwheat family, often included in a wider treatment of the related genus Polygonum in the past, and previously including Reynoutria. The genus is native to temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere, but species have been introduced elsewhere. The genus includes species forming vines and shrubs.
Polygonum arenastrum, commonly known as equal-leaved knotgrass, is a summer annual flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae. Other common names include common knotweed, prostrate knotweed, mat grass, oval-leaf knotweed, stone grass, wiregrass, and door weed, as well as many others. It is native to Europe and can be found on other continents as an introduced species and a common noxious weed. Knotweed was first seen in North America in 1809 and is now seen across much of the United States and Canada.
Persicaria lapathifolia, known as pale persicaria, is a plant of the family Polygonaceae. It is closely related to Persicaria maculosa and as such is considered a weed in Britain and Europe. Other common names for the plant include pale smartweed, curlytop knotweed, and willow weed. It is a species complex made up of a great many varying forms, sometimes considered varieties. The environment also has a strong influence on the morphology of an individual plant.
Acer tataricum, the Tatar maple or Tatarian maple, is a species of maple widespread across central and southeastern Europe and temperate Asia, from Austria and Turkey east as far as Japan and the Russian Far East. The species is named after the Tatar peoples of southern Russia; the tree's name is similarly commonly also misspelled "Tartar" or "Tartarian" in English.
Reynoutria multiflora is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family Polygonaceae native to central and southern China. It is known by the English common names tuber fleeceflower and Chinese (climbing) knotweed. It is known as he shou wu in China and East Asia. Another name for the species is fo-ti, which is a misnomer.
Allium giganteum, common name giant onion, is an Asian species of onion, native to central and southwestern Asia but cultivated in many countries as a flowering garden plant. It is the tallest species of Allium in common cultivation, growing to 1.5 metres (4.9 ft).
× Reyllopia is a hybrid genus with a single known species, × Reyllopia conollyana, the Haringey knotweed or railway-yard knotweed. The species is a hybrid between Japanese knotweed and the Russian vine. The only known wild British population was discovered by David Bevan at Railway Fields in 1987.
Sambucus racemosa is a species of elderberry known by the common names red elderberry and red-berried elder.
Persicaria capitata, the pink-headed persicaria, pinkhead smartweed, pink knotweed, Japanese knotweed, or pink bubble persicaria, is an Asian species of plants in the genus Persicaria within the buckwheat family. It is native to Asia and grown as an ornamental in other countries. It has become naturalized in Australia, South Africa and a few scattered locations in the Americas.
Persicaria punctata is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family known by the common names dotted smartweed and dotted knotweed.
Persicaria longiseta is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family known by the common names Oriental lady's thumb, bristly lady's thumb, Asiatic smartweed, long-bristled smartweed, low smartweed, Asiatic waterpepper, bristled knotweed, bunchy knotweed, and tufted knotweed. It is native to Asia, and it is present in North America and Europe as an introduced species and often a weed.
Fallopia aubertii is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae.
Ann P. Conolly (1917–2010) was a British botanist and teacher who contributed to quaternary botany and conducted important early work on the history and spread of Japanese Knotweed in the UK.
Polygonum achoreum, common names Blake's knotweed, leathery knotweed or striate knotweed, is a North American species of plants in the buckwheat family. It is widespread across much of Canada and the northern United States.
Polygonum oxyspermum is a coastal species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family. It is native to Europe, primarily along the shores of the Atlantic, the North Sea, and the Baltic Sea, from France and Ireland to Finland and Russia. It is also naturalized in eastern Canada and in the US State of Maine.
Polygonum patulum, called tree hogweed, is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family. It is native to the Mediterranean region, eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Siberia, Central Asia, Mongolia, and the Province of Xinjiang in northwestern China. It has also become sparingly naturalized in scattered locations in Australia and North America.
Reynoutria is a genus of flowering plants in the Polygonaceae, also known as the knotweed or buckwheat family. The genus is native to eastern China, Eastern Asia and the Russian Far East, although species have been introduced to Europe and North America. Members of the genus, including R. japonica and its hybrid with R. sachalinensis, are highly invasive plants.
