Polygonum aviculare

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Common knotgrass
Polygonum aviculare 4.JPG
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Polygonaceae
Genus: Polygonum
Species:
P. aviculare
Binomial name
Polygonum aviculare
L. 1753
Synonyms [1]
Synonymy
  • Avicularia vulgarisDidr.
  • Centinodium axillareMontandon
  • Polygonum agresteSumner, non Polygonum agresteSumnev.
  • Polygonum aphyllumKrock.
  • Polygonum araraticumKom.
  • Polygonum berteroiPhil.
  • Polygonum buxiformeSmall
  • Polygonum ganderbalenseMunshi & Javeid
  • Polygonum heterophyllumLindm.
  • Polygonum monspelienseThiéb.-Bern. ex Pers.
  • Polygonum neglectumBesser
  • Polygonum planumSkvortsov
  • Polygonum polyneuronFranch. & Sav.
  • Polygonum prostratumSkvortsov
  • Polygonum procumbensGilib.
  • Polygonum retinerveVorosch.
  • Polygonum rubescensSmall
  • Polygonum scythicumKlokov
  • Polygonum striatumK. Koch
  • Polygonum uruguenseH. Gross
  • Polygonum argenteumEhrenb. ex Meisn.
  • Polygonum argenteumSkvortsov
  • Polygonum fusco-ochreatumKom.
  • Polygonum stansKitag.

Polygonum aviculare or common knotgrass is a plant related to buckwheat and dock. It is also called prostrate knotweed, birdweed, pigweed and lowgrass. It is an annual found in fields and wasteland, with white flowers from June to October. It is widespread across many countries in temperate regions, apparently native to Eurasia, naturalized in temperate parts of the Southern Hemisphere. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Contents

Description

Common knotgrass is an annual herb with a semi-erect stem that may grow from 10 to 40 cm (4 to 16 in) high. The leaves are hairless and short-stalked. They are longish-elliptical with short stalks and rounded bases; the upper ones are few and are linear and stalkless. The stipules are fused into a stem-enclosing, translucent sheath known as an ochrea that is membranous and silvery. The flowers are regular, green with white or pink margins. Each has five perianth segments, overlapping at the base, five to eight stamens and three fused carpels. The fruit is a dark brown, three-edged nut. The seeds need light to germinate which is why this plant appears in disturbed soil in locations where its seeds may have lain dormant for years. It is a common carrier of the parasitic pathogen powdery mildew, [8] which can give the leaves a whitish appearance. [3] [9]

Subspecies

Polygonum aviculare has a wide distribution as an arable weed and plant of fields, shingle, sand, roadsides, yards and waste places. There is much morphological variation among different populations and several different sub-species are recognized: [1] [2] [3] [9]

Distribution

Widespread and common in Great Britain, [10] Ireland, [10] [11] and Scandinavia. [12]

Habitat

It is common on roadsides and arable ground in the British Isles. [11]

Chemistry

Polygonum aviculare contains the flavonols avicularin, myricitrin and juglanin. [13] The flavanoids astragalin and betmidin, and the lignan aviculin have also been found. [14] The diterpene alkaloid panicudine is another known component. [15]

Fossil record

One fossil fruit of Polygonum aviculare has been extracted from borehole samples of the Middle Miocene fresh water deposits in Nowy Sacz Basin, West Carpathians, Poland. [16]

Cuisine

It formed a traditional ingredient in porridge consumed by Germanic peoples of western Europe, and has been found in numerous autopsies of peat bodies, including the Tollund Man.

In Vietnam, where it is called rau đắng, it is widely used to prepare soup and hot pot, particularly in the southern region.

Related Research Articles

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<i>Campanula</i> Genus of flowering plants in the bellflower family Campanulaceae

Campanula is the type genus of the Campanulaceae family of flowering plants. Campanula are commonly known as bellflowers and take both their common and scientific names from the bell-shaped flowers—campanula is Latin for "little bell".

<i>Polygonum</i> Genus of flowering plants in the knotweed family Polygonaceae

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.

<i>Persicaria maculosa</i> Species of flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae

Persicaria maculosa is an annual plant in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. Common names include lady's thumb, spotted lady's thumb, Jesusplant, and redshank. It is widespread across Eurasia from Iceland south to Portugal and east to Japan. It is also present as an introduced and invasive species in North America, where it was first noted in the Great Lakes region in 1843 and has now spread through most of the continent.

<i>Stratiotes</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Hydrocharitaceae

Stratiotes is a genus of submerged aquatic plant commonly known as water soldiers, described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753. Several specific names have been coined within the genus, but at present only one is recognized: Stratiotes aloides. native to Europe and NW Asia.

<i>Cyperus</i> Genus of plants

Cyperus is a large genus of about 700 species of sedges, distributed throughout all continents in both tropical and temperate regions.

<i>Phyllanthus</i> Genus of flowering plants

Phyllanthus is the largest genus in the plant family Phyllanthaceae. Estimates of the number of species in this genus vary widely, from 750 to 1200. Phyllanthus has a remarkable diversity of growth forms including annual and perennial herbs, shrubs, climbers, floating aquatics, and pachycaulous succulents. Some have flattened leaflike stems called cladodes. It has a wide variety of floral morphologies and chromosome numbers and has one of the widest range of pollen types of any seed plant genus.

<i>Polygonum arenastrum</i> Species of flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae

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.

<i>Persicaria lapathifolia</i> Species of plant

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.

<i>Hydrocotyle</i> Genus of aquatic plants

Hydrocotyle, also called floating pennywort, water pennywort, Indian pennywort, dollar weed, marsh penny, thick-leaved pennywort and white rot, is a genus of prostrate, perennial aquatic or semi-aquatic plants formerly classified in the family Apiaceae, now in the family Araliaceae.

<i>Equisetum arvense</i> Species of horsetail

Equisetum arvense, the field horsetail or common horsetail, is an herbaceous perennial plant in the Equisetidae (horsetails) sub-class, native throughout the arctic and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It has separate sterile non-reproductive and fertile spore-bearing stems growing from a perennial underground rhizomatous stem system. The fertile stems are produced in early spring and are non-photosynthetic, while the green sterile stems start to grow after the fertile stems have wilted and persist through the summer until the first autumn frosts. It is sometimes confused with mare's tail, Hippuris vulgaris.

<i>Polygonum ramosissimum</i> Species of flowering plant

Polygonum ramosissimum is a North American species of herbaceous annual plants in the buckwheat family, widespread across much of Canada and the United States, where it is commonly called bushy knotweed. It is susceptible to downy mildew caused by the oomycete species Peronospora americana.

<i>Najas marina</i> Species of aquatic plant

Najas marina is a species of aquatic plant known by the common names spiny water nymph, spiny naiad and holly-leaved naiad. It is an extremely widespread species, reported across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, the Americas and many oceanic islands. It can be found in many types of freshwater and brackish aquatic habitat, including bodies of alkaline water.

British NVC community OV3 is one of the open habitat communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system. It is one of six arable weed and track-side communities of light, less-fertile acid soils.

British NVC community OV7 is one of the open habitat communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system. It is one of eight arable weed and wasteland communities of fertile loams and clays.

British NVC community OV8 is one of the open habitat communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system. It is one of eight arable weed and wasteland communities of fertile loams and clays.

British NVC community OV13 is one of the open habitat communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system. It is one of eight arable weed and wasteland communities of fertile loams and clays.

British NVC community OV17 is one of the open habitat communities in the British National Vegetation Classification system. Although classed with communities OV15 and OV16 as an arable weed community of light lime-rich soils, it also shares many features with the communities classed as arable weed and wasteland communities of fertile loams and clays.

Polygonum fowleri, commonly called Fowler's knotweed or Hudsonian knotweed, is a plant species native to the seashores of the northern part of North America. It has been reported from every Canadian province and territory except Alberta and Saskatchewan, as well as from Maine, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, and St. Pierre & Miquelon. It is usually found in gravelly locations along the seacoast.

<i>Polygonum oxyspermum</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

References

  1. 1 2 The Plant List, Polygonum aviculare L.
  2. 1 2 Flora of China, Polygonum aviculare Linnaeus, 1753. 萹蓄 bian xu
  3. 1 2 3 Flora of North America, Polygonum aviculare Linnaeus, 1753. Doorweed, knotgrass, renouée des oiseaux
  4. Atlas of Living Australia, Polygonum aviculare L., Wireweed
  5. Altervista Flora Italiana, Polygonum aviculare L. includes photos and European distribution map
  6. Lindau, G. 1894. Beiträge zur argentinischen Flora. Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 19(4, Beibl. 48): 8–23 descriptions and geographic information in Latin, commentary in German
  7. Gibbs Russell, G. E., W. G. M. Welman, E. Retief, K. L. Immelman, G. Germishuizen, B. J. Pienaar, M. Van Wyk & A. Nicholas. 1987. List of species of southern African plants. Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa 2(1–2): 1–152(pt. 1), 1–270(pt. 2).
  8. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338187775 Parasitic activity of powdery mildew (pathogen strain hmlac226) on prostrate knotweed (polygonum aviculare l.) at various locations of Shenyang, northeast China , Iqbal, M. F., Fend, Y. L., Liu, M. C., Lu, X. R., Nasir, M., Sikandar, A., 2019
  9. 1 2 "Knotgrass: Polygonum aviculare". NatureGate. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  10. 1 2 Clapham, A.R. , Tutin, T.G. and Warburg, E.F. 1968. Excursion Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge Press. ISBN   0-521-04656-4
  11. 1 2 Parnell, J. and Curtis, T. 2012. Webb's An Irish Flora. Cork University Press. ISBN   978-185918-4783
  12. "Knotgrass". Planteværn Online. Aarhus University. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  13. Xu, Fuquan; Guan, Huashi; Li, Guoqiang; Liu, Hongbing (2009). "LC Method for Analysis of Three Flavonols in Rat Plasma and Urine after Oral Administration of Polygonum aviculare Extract". Chromatographia. 69 (11–12): 1251–1258. doi:10.1365/s10337-009-1088-x. S2CID   93888073.
  14. Kim, Hyoung Ja; Woo, Eun-Rhan; Park, Hokoon (1994). "A Novel Lignan and Flavonoids from Polygonum aviculare". Journal of Natural Products. 57 (5): 581–586. doi:10.1021/np50107a003.
  15. Salama, Hediat M.H.; Marraiki, Najat (January 2010). "Antimicrobial activity and phytochemical analyses of Polygonum aviculare L. (Polygonaceae), naturally growing in Egypt". Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences. 17 (1): 57–63. doi:10.1016/j.sjbs.2009.12.009. PMC   3730555 . PMID   23961059.
  16. Łańcucka-Środoniowa M.: Macroscopic plant remains from the freshwater Miocene of the Nowy Sącz Basin (West Carpathians, Poland) [Szczątki makroskopowe roślin z miocenu słodkowodnego Kotliny Sądeckiej (Karpaty Zachodnie, Polska)]. Acta Palaeobotanica 1979 20 (1): 3-117.