Polygonaceae

Double-gee Emex australis, from here.

Belongs within: Caryophyllales.
Contains: Rumex, Polygonum, Muehlenbeckia, Eriogonum, Oxytheca, Chorizanthe.

The Polygonaceae are a family of flowering plants found worldwide. Over 1000 species have been assigned to the Polygonaceae (Thorne 2000), with the highest diversity in north temperate regions (Henty 1978). Among the commercially significant members of the family are Fagopyrum esculentum, buckwheat, grown for its grain, and Rheum rhaponticum, rhubarb, grown for its edible stems.

Within the Polygonaceae, members of the subfamily Polygonoideae are characterised by the presence of an ocrea, a nodal sheath at the base of the leaf formed from the fused stipules; flowers may be clustered but do not form involucres. The doublegees of the genus Emex have become troublesome weeds in some parts of the world owing to their spinose fruits. Members of the subfamily Eriogonoideae lack stipules and often bear flowers clustered in involucres of more or less fused bracts (Hickman 1993). The Neotropical genus Coccoloba includes trees, shrubs and lianas bearing seeds with a ruminate endosperm (dissected by ingrowths of the seed coat).

Characters (from Henty 1978): Herbs or shrubs, sometimes scandent; stems often swollen at nodes. Leaves simple, spirally arranged; usually sheath present, with ocrea. Flowers axillary and terminal, regular, mostly bisexual, if unisexual the plants monoecious or dioecious; pedicels usually articulate; perianth lobes 4-6, imbricate, free or shortly connate, persistent, often accrescent; stamens 4-9, free or basally connate, anthers two-celled, longitudinally dehiscent; disc often glandular; ovary superior, one-celled, with solitary basal ovule; styles 2-3, free or connate at base. Fruit a nut, trigonous or lenticular, rarely globose, enclosed in persistent perianth or not; embryo excentric, curved or straight, surrounded by mealy endosperm.

<==Polygonaceae
    |--Coccoloba BM76 [Coccoloboideae T00]
    |    |--C. costata J87
    |    |--C. diversifolia BT87
    |    |--C. grandifolia F11
    |    |--C. pauciflora J87
    |    |--C. picardae J87
    |    |--C. pubescens BM76
    |    |--C. rugosa SWK87
    |    `--C. uvifera SWK87
    |--Polygonoideae T00
    |    |--Rumex M99
    |    |--Polygonum H78
    |    |--Muehlenbeckia H93
    |    |--Oxyria digyna H93, O88
    |    |--Emex H93
    |    |    |--E. australis Steinh. 1838 C06
    |    |    `--E. spinosa DAF07
    |    |--Fagopyrum H93
    |    |    |--F. cymosum SS72
    |    |    |--F. esculentum [incl. F. sagittatum (nom. inv.)] H93
    |    |    `--F. tataricum BO08
    |    `--Fallopia H93 [incl. Bilderdykia H90]
    |         |--‘Polygonum’ sect. Fallopia H93
    |         |    |--F. baldschuanica H90 [=Polygonum baldschuanicum H93]
    |         |    `--F. convolvulus RJ11 [=Polygonum convolvulus H93]
    |         `--‘Polygonum’ sect. Reynoutria H93
    |               |--‘Polygonum’ cuspidatum H93
    |               |--‘Reynoutria’ japonica TG88
    |               `--‘Polygonum’ sachalinense Schmidt ex Maxim. 1859 H93, CD07 [=Reynoutria sachalinensis H90]
    `--Eriogonoideae T00
         |--Eriogonum CS90
         |--Pterostegia drymarioides H93
         |--Dedeckera eurekensis H93
         |--Gilmania luteola H93
         |--Goodmania luteola [=Oxytheca luteola] H93
         |--Lastarriaea coriacea (see below for synonymy) H93
         |--Hollisteria lanata H93
         |--Oxytheca H93
         |--Aristocapsa insignis [=Centrostegia insignis, Chorizanthe insignis] H93
         |--Chorizanthe H93
         |--Centrostegia thurberi [=Chorizanthe thurberi] H93
         |--Dodecahema leptoceras [=Centrostegia leptoceras, Chorizanthe leptoceras] H93
         |--Systenotheca vortriedei [=Centrostegia vortriedei, Chorizanthe vortriedei] H93
         |--Nemacaulis denudata H93
         |    |--N. d. var. denudata H93
         |    `--N. d. var. gracilis H93
         `--Mucronea Benth. 1836 H93, KC01
              |--M. californica [=Chorizanthe californica; incl. C. californica var. suksdorfii] H93
              `--M. perfoliata [=Chorizanthe perfoliata] H93

Polygonaceae incertae sedis:
  Oxygonum YY22
  Ruprechtia YY22
  Symmeria Y22
  Triplaris americana H06
  Polygonella YY22
  Pteroxygonum YY22
  ‘Pterococcus’ Pallas 1773 (nom. rej.) non Hasskarl 1842 (nom. cons.) FT93
  Antigonon leptopus Hooker & Arnott 1841 H78
  Koenigia O88
    |--K. delicatula O88
    |--K. forrestii O88
    |--K. islandica O88
    |--K. nepalensis O88
    `--K. nummularifolia O88
  Rheum H78
    |--R. acuminatum O88
    |--R. australe O88
    |--R. delavayi O88
    |--R. moorcroftianum O88
    |--R. nobile O88
    |--R. officinale KSM06
    |--R. rhabarbarum H90
    |--R. rhaponticum H78
    |--R. spiciforme O88
    `--R. webbianum O88
  Calligonum S00
    |--C. arborescens S00
    |--C. comosum HF03
    `--C. polygonoides P72
  ‘Coccolobites’ cretaceus Berry 1916 CBH93
  Coccolobites Visiani 1858 CBH93
  Persicarioipollis Krutzsch 1970 CBH93
  Homalocladium platycladum H90
  Acetosella vulgaris H90

Lastarriaea coriacea [=Chorizanthe coriacea; incl. C. lastarriaea var. californica non C. californica, Lastarriaea chilensis ssp. californica] H93

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

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[BO08] Bönsel, D., I. Ottich, A. Malten & G. Zizka. 2008. An updated list of the vascular plants of Frankfurt am Main (Pteridophyta & Spermatophyta). Senckenbergiana Biologica 88 (1): 111–121.

[CD07] Cantino, P. D., J. A. Doyle, S. W. Graham, W. S. Judd, R. G. Olmstead, D. E. Soltis, P. S. Soltis & M. J. Donoghue. 2007. Towards a phylogenetic nomenclature of Tracheophyta. Taxon 56 (3): E1–E44.

[C06] Cheeseman, T. F. 1906. Manual of the New Zealand Flora. John Mackay, Government Printer: Wellington.

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[DAF07] Department of Agriculture and Food. 2007. Common Seasonal Pests. State of Western Australia.

[FT93] Fensome, R. A., F. J. R. Taylor, G. Norris, W. A. S. Sarjeant, D. I. Wharton & G. L. Williams. 1993. A classification of living and fossil dinoflagellates. Micropaleontology Special Publication 7: i–viii, 1–351.

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[H90] Harden, G. J. (ed.) 1990. Flora of New South Wales vol. 1. New South Wales University Press.

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[H78] Henty, E. E. 1978. Polygonaceae. In: Womersley, J. S. (ed.) Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea vol. 1 pp. 222–248. Melbourne University Press: Carlton South (Australia).

[H93] Hickman, J. C. (ed.) 1993. The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press: Berkeley (California).

[J87] Judd, W. S. 1987. Floristic study of Morne La Visite and Pic Macaya National Parks, Haiti. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum—Biological Sciences 32 (1): 1–136.

[KSM06] King, R. C., W. D. Stansfield & P. K. Mulligan. 2006. A Dictionary of Genetics 7^th ed. Oxford University Press.

[KC01] Kirk, P. M., P. F. Cannon, J. C. David & J. A. Stalpers. 2001. Ainsworth & Bisby's Dictionary of the Fungi 9^th ed. CAB International: Wallingford (UK).

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[O88] Ohba, H. 1988. The alpine flora of the Nepal Himalayas: an introductory note. In: Ohba, H., & S. B. Malla (eds) The Himalayan Plants vol. 1. The University Museum, University of Tokyo, Bulletin 31: 19–46.

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[RJ11] Rising, J. D., A. Jaramillo, J. L. Copete, P. G. Ryan & S. C. Madge. 2011. Family Emberizidae (buntings and New World sparrows). In: Hoyo, J. del, A. Elliott & D. A. Christie (eds) Handbook of the Birds of the World vol. 16. Tanagers to New World Blackbirds pp. 428–683. Lynx Edicions: Barcelona.

[S00] Siddiqi, M. R. 2000. Tylenchida: Parasites of plants and insects 2^nd ed. CABI Publishing: Wallingford (UK).

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[SWK87] Snyder, N. F. R., J. W. Wiley & C. B. Kepler. 1987. The Parrots of Luquillo: Natural history and conservation of the Puerto Rican parrot. Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology: Los Angeles.

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[T00] Thorne, R. F. 2000. The classification and geography of the flowering plants: dicotyledons of the class Angiospermae (subclasses Magnoliidae, Ranunculidae, Caryophyllidae, Dilleniidae, Rosidae, Asteridae, and Lamiidae). The Botanical Review 66: 441–647.

[YY22] Yampolsky, C., & H. Yampolsky. 1922. Distribution of sex forms in the phanerogamic flora. Bibliotheca Genetica 3: 1–62.

Last updated: 11 June 2022.