User:DestineeT/Polygonum austiniae

Lead
Polygonum austiniae, part of the Polygonacae family. Common name Mrs. Austin's knotweed, is a plant species in the buckwheat family. It is grown in western Canada and the western United States, from Alberta and British Columbia south as far as California, Nevada, and Wyoming.

Description
Low annual, bracts branching, rising to erect, green to purple, scurfy, 5-10 (20) cm tall. Leaves are many, assembled at the base, edges 1-veined, lower ones oblong, elliptic, or widely oblanceolate, 5-15 mm long, narrowing to a very short petiole, growing rare condition higher, converting to little flowers. Papillose to minutely toothed leaf edges. 3-5 mm long stipules that form a coarsely lacerate sheath around the stem. Cymes with 1-4 flowers, apical and in the pedicel of all leaves but the lowest; plepys exserted from the number of close sheaths, 1-2.5 mm long, quickly reflexed. Tepals 5, overlapping, greenish with white or pinkish borders; flowers (1.8) 2-2.6 mm long, fus ed for 1/4-1/5 of their length; flowers (1.8) 2-2.6 mm long, fus ed for 1/4-1/5 of their duration; flowers (1.8) 2-2.6 mm long, fus ed for 1/4-1/5 of their length; floral (1.8) 2-2.6 5-8 lobes Three separate styles, each measuring less than 0.5 mm in length. From June through August, the plant blooms.

Taxonomy
Kingdom : Plantae, Phylum: Tracheophyta, Class: Magnoliopsida, Order: Caryophyllales, Family: Polygonaceae, Genus: Polygonum L., and Species is Polygonum austiniae Greene.

Distribution and Habitat
Flats or banks ranging from dry to wet, from desert grasslands to lower mountains, frequently with pine forests pine (Pinus ponderos a). stubborn grassland (Artemisia rigida),  Sandberg's bluegrass (Poa s ecund (Bromus hordeaceus)  sagebrush violet (Viola trinervata), chaparral willowherb (Epilobium minutum), bigseed biscuitroot (Lomatium macrocarpum), thyme buckwheat (Eriogonum thymoides), northern biscuitroot (Lomatium f arinosum). Plants are inconspicuous and often missed. As a biennial, this plant is subject to climate variations as well as invasive plant invasion. 3-angled, black, virtually smooth, lustrous, 2-2.5 mm long, elliptical in form but tapering to both sides chenes encased in flowers.

Identification Tips: The stipular wrappings, flowers, and pollen of Polygonum douglas ii and P. majus are bigger than those of Polygonum austiniae. P. austiniae has widely oblong or ovate leaflets with papillose to minimally serrated edges, whereas P. engelmannii has sequential leaves with smooth edges.

Uses (or culture)
Knotweeds can suffocate the underbrush by forming dense, leafy undergrowth. They may quickly infiltrate riverbanks and other disturbed areas. Knotweeds die back throughout the winter, leaving bare soils vulnerable to flooding, and fresh shoots may grow up to 8cm per day under ideal conditions. Knotweed rhizomes can obstruct drainage pipes and other constructions in their hunt for moisture, obstructing and occasionally raising pipelines and jamming submersible pumps. Other subsurface facilities, such as wiring and water pipelines, are under danger. Knotweed has a long history of use in traditional Asian herbal therapy. While these human benefits are frequently cited as justifications for not managing Japanese and other knotweeds, none of them exceed the dangers of an unregulated knotweed invasion.