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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE BUCKWHEAT FAMILY | |||||||||
| The buckwheats are common in northern temperate regions like Saskatchewan. The roots are fibrous or taproots. The stems can be solid or hollow, lying on the ground, or upright. The stems may be swollen at the nodes. The leaves can be in basal rosettes or basal and alternate on the stem. At the base of the leaf, some species have fused, papery stipules forming a sheath around the stem. The leaf margins may be smooth, round-toothed, wavy, or lobed. The flowers are usually perfect. The perianth is made of tepals instead of separate petals and sepals. The tepals are petal-like and are white, greenish, pinkish, yellowish, or reddish in colour. Each flower has between six and nine stamens. The fruits are yellowish, brown, red, or black. | |||||||||
| DENSE-FLOWERED KNOTWEED | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Polygonum polygaloides ssp. confertiflorum | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Dense-flowered knotweed grows up to 20 cm tall. The stems are erect and branched. The leaves are both basal and on the stem but the basal leaves fall off early in the season. The stem leaves are narrow and linear with three veins. The stipules are fused at the base of the leaf. The flowers are in a 1 – 3-flowered, spike-like cluster. The tepals are overlapping and white, pink, or red with white margins. The fruits are brown and can be shiny or dull. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Dense-flowered knotweed grows in moist to dried prairie depressions, slough bottom mudflats, and drying field potholes. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This plant is found in southwestern Saskatchewan in the Mixed Grassland and Cypress Upland ecoregions. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Dense-flowered knotweed is threatened because of rarity in Saskatchewan. Some local populations are small and some larger. Possible threats have been identified for this species. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY DENSE-FLOWERED KNOTWEED | |||||||||
| * Are the tepals white, pink, or red with white
margins? * Are the stems branched? * Are the stipules fused at the base? * Did you find it in southwestern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found dense-flowered knotweed! | |||||||||
