Polygonum basiramia

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Polygonum basiramia
Polygonella basiramia.jpg
Status TNC G3.svg
Vulnerable  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Polygonaceae
Genus: Polygonum
Species:
P. basiramia
Binomial name
Polygonum basiramia
(Small) T.M.Schust. & Reveal [1]
Synonyms [1]
  • Delopyrum basiramiaSmall
  • Polygonella basiramia(Small) G.L.Nesom & V.M.Bates
  • Polygonella ciliata var. basiramia(Small) Horton

Polygonum basiramia (synonym Polygonella basiramia) is a rare species of flowering plant in the knotweed family known by the common names wireweed, hairy wireweed, purple wireweed, and Florida jointweed. It is endemic to Florida in the United States, where it is limited to the central ridges of the peninsula, including the Lake Wales Ridge. It is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.

Contents

Description

This plant is a perennial herb growing 30 to 80 centimeters tall. The roots of the plant may be much longer than the plant's diameter and spread out under the soil. [2] The wiry stems may branch and may extend beneath the surface of the soil. The plant only has leaves for a short time. They are linear in shape and measure no more than 2 or 3 centimeters in length. [3] The stem and leaves are red to green in color. [4] The plant is gynodioecious, with some individuals producing bisexual flowers and some producing only female. The inflorescence, measuring 1 to 3 centimeters long, contains white to pinkish flowers under 2 millimeters long. [3] Blooming occurs around September and fruit production may last until December. The flowers are pollinated by Perdita polygonellae , a bee which specializes in the plant subsection Polygonella, and wasps of the family Eumenidae. Female plants produce many more seeds than do hermaphrodite plants. The seeds are very tiny, measuring about 7 by 28 micrometers. The species appears to be resistant to the allelopathic chemicals released into the soil by Florida rosemary. [2]

Taxonomy

The species was first described in 1820 by John Kunkel Small as Delopyrum basiramia. [5] It was later placed in the genus Polygonella (under the name Polygonella basiramia), but in 2015, following a series of molecular phylogenetic studies, this genus was subsumed into Polygonum . [6] [7]

Distribution and habitat

This plant is a member of the Florida scrub plant community. It occurs in scrub dominated by Florida rosemary, sand pine, other pines, and oaks. The soil is almost entirely composed of sand and it holds little water or nutrients. [8] The plant occurs in openings in the scrub which are maintained by periodic wildfires. Other plants in this habitat include Calamintha ashei , Cnidoscolus stimulosus , Eryngium cuneifolium , Euphorbia floridana , Hypericum cumulicola , Lechea cernua , Licania michauxii , Paronychia chartacea , Polanisia tenuifolia , Polygonum polygama , Selagniella arenicola , and Stipulicida setacea . [4]

Conservation

Threats to this species include the destruction of its habitat during the conversion to residential and agricultural property, particularly citrus groves. Off-road vehicles are a threat to the habitat. [8] Fire suppression may have a negative effect on this plant, which grows in open gaps in a fire-maintained ecosystem, but the species appears to be less dependent on fire than many other Florida scrub endemics. [2]

Many plants in this altered, fragmented region are rare and endangered. Wireweed is one of the more abundant of these, [2] and it can be common in some local areas. [8] As of 2010 there were 119 extant occurrences of the plant for an estimated total exceeding one million individuals. However, it is limited to a very endangered habitat type, putting it in danger of decline. [2]

Related Research Articles

Polygonaceae The knotweed family of flowering plants

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 derivation, meaning 'many seeds'.

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

Polygonum is a genus of about 130 species of flowering plant 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>Fallopia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the knotweed family Polygonaceae

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.

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

Koenigia is a genus of plants in the family Polygonaceae. The genus Aconogonon has been merged into Koenigia.

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

Atraphaxis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Polygonaceae with about 40 species.

<i>Warea carteri</i> Species of flowering plant

Warea carteri is a species of plant in the mustard family, Brassicaceae, known by the common names Carter's pinelandcress and Carter's mustard. It is an endangered, fire-dependent annual herb occurring in xeric, shrub-dominated habitats on the Lake Wales Ridge of central Florida in the United States.

<i>Eryngium cuneifolium</i> Species of flowering plant in the celery family Apiaceae

Eryngium cuneifolium is a rare species of flowering plant in the carrot family known by the common names wedgeleaf eryngo, wedge-leaved button-snakeroot, and simply snakeroot. It is endemic to the state of Florida in the United States where it is known only from Highlands County. It is one of many rare species that can be found only on the Lake Wales Ridge, an area of high endemism. It was federally listed as an endangered species of the United States in 1987.

<i>Duma florulenta</i> Species of plant

Duma florulenta, commonly known as tangled lignum or often simply lignum, is a plant native to inland Australia. It is associated with wetland habitats, especially those in arid and semiarid regions subject to cycles of intermittent flooding and drying out. The Wiradjuri name for the plant is gweeargal.

<i>Hypericum cumulicola</i> Species of flowering plant in the St Johns wort family Hypericaceae

Hypericum cumulicola is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Hypericaceae known by the common name highlands scrub hypericum, or highlands scrub St. John's wort. It is endemic to Florida, where it is threatened by habitat loss and degradation. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.

<i>Nolina brittoniana</i> Species of plant

Nolina brittoniana is a rare species of flowering plant in the asparagus family known by the common name Britton's beargrass. It is endemic to Florida, where there are 72 known populations, only a few of which are large enough to be considered viable. It is federally listed as an endangered species of the United States.

<i>Paronychia chartacea</i> Species of flowering plant

Paronychia chartacea is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names papery Whitlow-wort and paper nailwort. It is endemic to Florida in the United States. There are two subspecies of the plant; ssp. chartacea occurs in Central Florida, especially the Lake Wales Ridge, and ssp. minima is native to the Florida Panhandle. The two subspecies are geographically separated and do not occur together. Both are included on the federal Endangered Species List, on which the species is designated threatened.

<i>Polygonum dentoceras</i>

Polygonum dentoceras is a rare species of flowering plant in the knotweed family known by the common names sandlace, woody wireweed, and Small's jointweed. It is endemic to Florida in the United States, where it is limited to the central ridges of the peninsula, including the Lake Wales Ridge. It is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.

<i>Prunus geniculata</i> Species of tree

Prunus geniculata is a rare species of plum known by the common name scrub plum. It is endemic to Florida in the United States, where it occurs on the Lake Wales Ridge in the central ridges of the peninsula. It is threatened by the loss of its habitat and is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.

<i>Conradina grandiflora</i> Species of flowering plant

Conradina grandiflora is a species of flowering plant in the mint family known by the common name largeflower false rosemary, or large-flowered rosemary. It is endemic to Florida in the United States, where it occurs on the Atlantic coastal ridge. Its distribution spans Brevard, Broward, Dade, Highlands, Indian River, Martin, Osceola, Palm Beach, Polk, St. Lucie, and Volusia Counties.

Polygonum smallianum is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family known by the common name largeleaf jointweed. It is native to a small area around the border between Alabama and Florida in the United States.

Polygonum delopyrum, the fringed jointweed or hairy jointweed, is a plant species endemic to Florida. It is found in pinelands and sandy pine barrens at elevations less than 50 m, in central and southern parts of the state.

<i>Polygonum serotinum</i>

Polygonum serotinum, commonly called southern jointweed or American jointweed, is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family. It is native to Southeastern United States extending in scattered locations west to New Mexico. Its preferred habitat is dry, sandy areas.

Polygonoideae Subfamily of the knotweed family of plants (Polygonaceae)

Polygonoideae is a subfamily of plants in the family Polygonaceae. It includes a number of plants that can be highly invasive, such as Japanese knotweed, Reynoutria japonica, and its hybrid with R. sachalinensis, R. × bohemica. Boundaries between the genera placed in the subfamily and their relationships have long been problematic, but a series of molecular phylogenetic studies have clarified some of them, resulting in the division of the subfamily into seven tribes.

<i>Duma</i> (plant) Genus of flowering plants

Duma is a genus of shrubby flowering plants in the family Polygonaceae, subfamily Polygonoideae. The genus was separated from Muehlenbeckia in 2011. The native range of the genus is Australia.

Tanja Schuster Australian botanist

Tanja Magdalena Schuster is a taxonomist from Kaindorf, Austria and the first Pauline Ladiges Plant Systematics Fellow, holding a joint position with the School of Biosciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and the National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. Schuster also worked as curator of the Norton-Brown Herbarium at the University of Maryland, College Park.

References

  1. 1 2 "Polygonum basiramia (Small) T.M.Schust. & Reveal". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2019-02-28.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 USFWS. Polygonella basiramia Five-year Review. September 2010.
  3. 1 2 Polygonella basiramia. Flora of North America.
  4. 1 2 Polygonella basiramia. Archived 2011-10-26 at the Wayback Machine Center for Plant Conservation.
  5. ↑ "Plant Name Details for Delopyrum basiramia Small", The International Plant Names Index , retrieved 2019-02-28
  6. ↑ Schuster, T.M.; Reveal, J.L. & Kron, K.A. (2011). "Evolutionary Relationships within Polygoneae (Polygonaceae: Polygonoideae)". Taxon. 60: 1653–1666. doi:10.1002/tax.606010., cited in Schuster et al. (2015)
  7. ↑ Schuster, Tanja M.; Reveal, James L.; Bayly, Michael J. & Kron, Kathleen A. (2015). "An updated molecular phylogeny of Polygonoideae (Polygonaceae): Relationships of Oxygonum, Pteroxygonum, and Rumex, and a new circumscription of Koenigia". Taxon. 64 (6): 1188–1208. doi:10.12705/646.5.
  8. 1 2 3 Polygonella basiramia. The Nature Conservancy.
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