Polygonum

Polygonum
Polygonum coccineum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Core eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Polygonaceae
Genus: Polygonum
L.
Species

Between 150-300 species; see text

Polygonum is a genus in the Polygonaceae family. Common names include knotweed, knotgrass, bistort, tearthumb, mile-a-minute, smartweed and several others. In the Middle English glossary of herbs Alphita (c. 1400-1425), it was known as ars-smerte.[1] There have been various opinions about how broadly the genus should be defined. For example, Buckwheat has sometimes been included in the genus.

The genus primarily grows in northern temperate regions. They vary widely from prostrate herbaceous annual plants under 5 cm (2 in) high to erect herbaceous perennial plants growing up to 3–4 m (10–13 ft) tall to perennial woody vines growing up to 20–30 m (66–98 ft) high in trees. Several are aquatic, growing as floating plants in ponds. The smooth-edged leaves range from 1–30 cm (0.39–11.81 in) long, and vary in shape between species from narrow lanceolate to oval, broad triangular, heart-shaped, or arrowhead forms. The stems are often reddish or red-speckled. The small flowers are, pink, white, or greenish, forming in summer in dense clusters from the leaf joints or stem apices.

The genus name is from the Greek poly = "many" and gonu = "knee" or "joint", in reference to the swollen jointed stem.

Polygonum species are occasionally eaten by humans, and are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species - see list. Most species are considered weedy, especially in moist soils in the USA.

Distribution and uses

Several species can be eaten cooked,[2] for example during famines.[3] The variety Polygonum cognatum, known locally as "madimak",[4][5][6] is regularly consumed in central parts of Turkey.

In Chinese medicine, a Polygonum extract called Rèlínqīng Kēlì (热林清颗粒) is used to treat urinary tract infections.[7] Chinese medicine also uses a Polygonum multiflorum extract called Fo-Ti.

Care should be taken not to confuse Polygonum with Polygonatum - an entirely different genus of plants.

Reference in Literature

In The Man Who Laughs Victor Hugo wrote of the Comprachicos (child-buyers) who created artificial dwarfs, formed "by anointing babies' spines with the grease of bats, moles and dormice" and using drugs such as "dwarf elder, knotgrass, and daisy juice". The idea of such use was also known to Shakespeare, as Beatrice K. Otto pointed out, quoting A Midsummer's Night Dream:[8]

Get you gone, dwarf;
You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made;

Species

Between 65[9] and 300 species are recognised, depending on the circumscription of the genus; some botanists divide the genus into several smaller genera, including Fagopyrum, Fallopia and Persicaria.

The genus Polygonella has a number of morphological similarities with Polygonum, and some authors have included Polygonella in Polygonum.[9]

Selected species include:

Reclassified as Fagopyrum

Reclassified as Fallopia

Reclassified as Persicaria

Flowerhead of Persicaria maculata (syn. Polygonum persicara)

References

  1. ↑ Middle English Dictionary
  2. ↑ Knotweed at NorthernBushCraft
  3. ↑ Łukasz Łuczaj (2008). "Archival data on wild food plants used in Poland in 1948". J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 4 (4): 4. doi:10.1186/1746-4269-4-4. PMC 2275233. PMID 18218132.
  4. ↑ See the article in Turkish: http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad%C4%B1mak_(bitki)
  5. ↑ See the preparation of one particular dish in Turkey using polygonum cognatum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzNCO94rWXE
  6. ↑ One more dish based on "madimak" polygonum cognatum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3cJk6ChPkY
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ Otto, Beatrice K. (2001) [2001-04-01]. "Facets of the Fool". Fools are Everywhere: The Court Jester Around the World. University Of Chicago Press. p. 29. ISBN 0-226-64091-4. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
  9. 1 2 "Polygonum". Flora of North America.
  10. ↑ Bussmann, R. W.; et al. (2006). "Plant use of the Maasai of Sekenani Valley, Maasai Mara, Kenya". J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 2: 22. doi:10.1186/1746-4269-2-22. PMC 1475560. PMID 16674830.

External links

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