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.Antoine Laurent de Jussieu. 1789. Genera plantarum: secundum ordines naturales disposita, juxta methodum in Horto regio parisiensi exaratam. page 82. Herrisant and Barrois: Paris, France. (see External links below) The name may refer to the many swollen nodes the stems of some species have, being derived from Greek ( meaning and meaning or ). Alternatively, it may have a different origin, meaning 'many seeds'.
The Polygonaceae comprise about 1,200 speciesDavid J. Mabberley. 2008. Mabberley's Plant-Book third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK. distributed into about 48 genera. The largest genera are Eriogonum (240 species), Rumex (200 species), Coccoloba (120 species), Persicaria (100 species) and Calligonum (80 species).Craig C. Freeman and James L. Reveal. 2005. "Polygonaceae" pages 216-601. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee (editors). Flora of North America vol. 5. Oxford University Press: New York, NY, USA. (see External links below)John Brandbyge. 1993. "Polygonaceae". pages 531-544. In: Klaus Kubitzki (editor); Jens G. Rohwer, and Volker Bittrich (volume editors). The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants volume II. Springer-Verlag: Berlin; Heidelberg, Germany (Berlin) (New York) The family is present worldwide, but is most diverse in the North Temperate Zone.
Several species are cultivated as ornamentals.Anthony Huxley, Mark Griffiths, and Margot Levy (1992). The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. The Macmillan Press, Limited: London. The Stockton Press: New York. (set). A few species of Triplaris provide lumber. The fruit of the sea grape (Coccoloba uvifera) is eaten, and in Florida, jelly is made from it and sold commercially.George W. Staples and Derral R. Herbst "A Tropical Garden Flora" Bishop Museum Press: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. (2005) The seeds of two species of Fagopyrum, known as buckwheat, are eaten in the form of groats or used to make flour. The petioles of rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum and hybrids) are a food item. The leaves of the common sorrel (Rumex acetosa) are eaten in salads or as a leaf vegetable.Vernon H. Heywood, Richard K. Brummitt, Ole Seberg, and Alastair Culham. Flowering Plant Families of the World. Firefly Books: Ontario, Canada. (2007). .
Polygonaceae contain some of the most prolific weeds, including species of Persicaria, Rumex and Polygonum, as well as Japanese knotweed.
Taxonomy Polygonaceae are very well-defined and have long been universally recognized. In the APG III system, the family is placed in the order Caryophyllales. Within the order, it lies outside of the large clade known as the core Caryophyllales. It is a sister to the family Plumbaginaceae, which it does not resemble morphologically.Peter F. Stevens. 2001 onwards. Angiosperm Phylogeny Website At: Missouri Botanical Garden Website. (see External links below).
The last comprehensive revision of the family was published in 1993 by John Brandbyge as part of The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Brandbyge followed earlier systems of plant classification in dividing Polygonaceae into two subfamilies, Eriogonoideae and Polygonoideae. Since 1993, the circumscriptions of these two subfamilies have been changed in light of phylogenetic studies of DNA sequences. Genera related to Coccoloba and Triplaris were moved from Polygonoideae to Eriogonoideae. The genus Symmeria does not belong to either of these subfamilies because it is a sister to the rest of the family. Afrobrunnichia might constitute a new subfamily as well.
Brandbyge wrote descriptions for 43 genera of Polygonaceae in 1993. Since then, a few more genera have been erected, and some segregates of Brunnichia, Eriogonum, and Persicaria have been given generic status in major works.Anjen Li, Bojian Bao, Alisa E. Grabovskaya-Borodina, Suk-pyo Hong, John McNeill, Sergei L. Mosyakin, Hideaki Ohba, and Chong-wook Park. 2003. "Polygonaceae" pages 277-350. In: Zhengyi Wu, Peter H. Raven, and Deyuan Hong (editors). Flora of China volume 5. Science Press: Beijing, China; Missouri Botanical Garden Press: St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Some of the genera were found not to be monophyletic and their limits have been revised. These include Ruprechtia, Eriogonum, Chorizanthe, Persicaria, Aconogonon, Polygonum, Fallopia, and Muehlenbeckia.
Description
Most Polygonaceae are perennial herbaceous plants with swollen nodes, but trees, shrubs and vines are also present. The leaves of Polygonaceae are simple, and arranged alternately on the stems. Each leaf has a peculiar pair of fused, sheathing stipules, known as an ochrea. Those species that do not have the nodal ochrea can be identified by their possession of involucrate flower heads. The flowers are normally bisexual, small, and actinomorphic, with a perianth of three to six sepals. After flowering, the sepals often become thickened and enlarged around the developing fruit. Flowers lack a corolla and in some, the sepals are petal-like and colorful. The androecium is composed of three to eight stamens that are normally free or united at the base. The ovary consists of three united carpels that form a single locule, which produces only one ovule. The ovary is superior with basal or free-central placentation. The seeds are usually, but not always, 3-sided. The gynoecium terminates in 1 to 3 styles, each of which ends in a single stigma.Samuel B. Jones and Arlene E. Luchsinger. 1979. Plant systematics. McGraw-Hill series in organismic biology. New York: McGraw-Hill. Page 254. Walter S. Judd, Christopher S. Campbell, Elizabeth A. Kellogg, Peter F. Stevens, and Michael J. Donoghue. 2008. Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach, Third Edition. Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA, USA. Armen L. Takhtajan (Takhtadzhian). Flowering Plants second edition (2009), pages 155-156. Springer Science+Business Media. . (see External links below)
Genera , Plants of the World Online accepted 57 genera:
Acanthoscyphus Small Afrobrunnichia Hutch. & Dalziel Antigonon Endl. Aristocapsa Reveal & Hardham Atraphaxis L. Bactria Yurtseva & Mavrodiev Bistorta (L.) Scop. Brunnichia Banks ex Gaertn. Caelestium Calligonum L. Centrostegia A.Gray Chorizanthe R.Br. ex Benth. Coccoloba P.Browne Dedeckera Reveal & J.T.Howell Dodecahema Reveal & C.B.Hardham Duma T.M.Schust. Enneatypus Herzog Eriogonum Michx. Eskemukerjea Malick & Sengupta Fagopyrum Mill. Fallopia Adans. Gilmania Coville Goodmania Reveal & Ertter Gymnopodium Rolfe Harfordia Greene & Parry Hollisteria S.Watson Johanneshowellia Reveal Knorringia (Czukav.) Tzvelev Koenigia L. Lastarriaea Remy Leptogonum Benth. Magoniella Adr.Sanchez Mucronea Benth. Muehlenbeckia Meisn. Nemacaulis Nutt. Neomillspaughia S.F.Blake Oxygonum Burch. Oxyria Hill Oxytheca Nutt. Parogonum Persicaria Mill. × Persirumex (Persicaria × Rumex) Pleuropterus Podopterus Bonpl. Polygonum L. Pteropyrum Jaub. & Spach Pterostegia Fisch. & C.A.Mey. Pteroxygonum Dammer & Diels × Reyllopia Reynoutria Houtt. Rheum L. Rumex L. Ruprechtia C.A.Mey. Salta Adr.Sanchez Sidotheca Reveal Stenogonum Nutt. Symmeria Benth. Systenotheca Reveal & Hardham Triplaris Loefl.
Former genera Aconogonon (Meisn.) Rchb. – now included in Koenigia Harpagocarpus Hutch. & Dandy - synonym of Fagopyrum Homalocladium (F.Muell.) L.H.Bailey – now included in Muehlenbeckia Parapteropyrum A.J.Li – now included in Fagopyrum Peutalis Raf. – synonym of Persicaria Polygonella Michx. – now included in Polygonum Rubrivena M.Král – now included in Koenigia
Phylogeny The following phylogenetic tree is based on two papers on the molecular phylogenetics of Polygonaceae.
References
External links
Polygonaceae In: FNA volume 5 In: Family List In: Flora of North America At: eFloras Polygonaceae In: Genera Plantarum (Jussieu) At: Genera Plantarum At: Search At: Botanicus.org List of Genera in Polygonaceae At: Polygonaceae At: Caryophyllales At: Angiosperm Phylogeny Website At: Missoure Botanical Garden Website List of genera in family Polygonaceae At: Dicotyledons At: List Genera within a Family At: Vascular Plant Families and Genera At: About the Checklist At: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families At: Data Sources At: ePIC At: Scientific Databases At: Kew Gardens List of genera At: Polygonaceae At: List of families At: Families and Genera in GRIN At: Queries At: GRIN taxonomy for plants non-core Caryophyllales At: Caryophyllales At: Root of the Tree (Life on Earth) At: Tree of Life web project Polygonaceae In: Flowering Plants (Takhtajan) Polygonaceae in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval. http://delta-intkey.com Family Polygonaceae Flowers in Israel Polygonaceae of Mongolia in FloraGREIF