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'.
Persicaria is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the knotweed family, Polygonaceae. Plants of the genus are known commonly as knotweeds or smartweeds. It has a cosmopolitan distribution, with species occurring nearly worldwide. The genus was segregated from Polygonum.
Coccoloba is a genus of about 120–150 species of flowering plants in the family Polygonaceae, which is native to the Neotropics. There is no overall English name for the genus, although many of the individual species have widely used common names.
The docks and sorrels, genus Rumex, are a genus of about 200 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. Members of this genus are very common perennial herbs with a native almost worldwide distribution, and introduced species growing in the few places where the genus is not native.
The genus Fagopyrum is in the flowering plant family Polygonaceae. It includes some important food plants, such as F. esculentum (buckwheat) and F. tataricum. The genus is native to the Indian subcontinent, much of Indochina, and central and southeastern China. Species have been widely introduced elsewhere, throughout the Holarctic and parts of Africa and South America.
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.
Cerastium is a genus of annual, winter annual, or perennial flowering plants belonging to the family Caryophyllaceae. They are commonly called mouse-ears or mouse-ear chickweeds. There are 214 accepted species, found nearly worldwide but with the greatest concentration in the northern temperate regions. A number of the species are common weeds in fields and on disturbed ground.
Dichondra is a small genus of flowering plants in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. They are prostrate, perennial, herbaceous plants, with creeping stems which take root readily at the leaf nodes. The flowers are white, greenish or yellowish, 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) diameter. Members of the genus are commonly known as ponysfoots and are native to tropical and cool temperate regions around the world.
Muehlenbeckia or maidenhair is a genus of flowering plants in the family Polygonaceae. It is native to the borders of the Pacific, including South and North America, Papua New Guinea and Australasia. It has been introduced elsewhere, including Europe. Species vary in their growth habits, many being vines or shrubs. In some environments, rampant species can become weedy and difficult to eradicate.
Carl Daniel Friedrich Meissner was a Swiss botanist.
Simira is a genus of plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus was first published by French pharmacist and botanist Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet in Hist. Pl. Guiane vol.1 on page 170 in 1775.
Tournefortia, commonly known as soldierbush, is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae.
Pteropyrum is a genus of plants in the family Polygonaceae. Plants of the World Online accepts two species, native to Iran, Oman and the Gulf States.
Leptogonum is a monotypic genus of plants in the family Polygonaceae. It has a single species, Leptogonum domingense, a shrub or tree endemic to the island of Hispaniola.
Koenigia is a genus of plants in the family Polygonaceae. The genus Aconogonon has been merged into Koenigia.
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, and the Walmajarri name is Kirinykiriny, or Kurinykuriny.
Daphnopsis is a plant genus in the family Thymelaeaceae. There are 50 to 65 species distributed in the Neotropics. They are shrubs and small trees with tubular or bell-shaped flowers. Individuals are dioecious, with male and female flowers produced on separate trees.
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.
Jacquemontia is a genus of plants in the morning glory family Convolvulaceae. Species in this genus are commonly known as clustervine.
