SPECIES DESCRIPTION
POLYGONUM ARENASTRUM
Family and Genus:- See- POLYGONACEAE/Sect. POLYGONUM/P
Common Names:- Small-leaved knotgrass
Homotypic Synonyms:- Polygonum aequale, Polygonum microspermum
Meaning:- Polygonum (Gr) Many joints, a name used by the Greek physician and
botanist Dioscorides a possible reference to the many nodes.
Arenastrum (L) Resembling Arenaria
General description:- Low, prostrate or sprawling perennial with a woody stock.
Stems:-
1) Usually less than 30 cm, procumbent, freely branched, forming a mat.
Ochreae:-
1) Silvery-hyaline with few, faint veins, less than ½ as long as the internodes.
Leaves:-
1) 5-20 x 2-5 mm, elliptical or lanceolate, more or less uniform in size, often
obtuse.
Flowers:-
1) Solitary or in few-flowered axillary clusters.
2) Perianth-tube, at least ½ as long as the segments.
Fruit:-
1) Nut, 1·5-2·5 mm, included in the perianth, often with 1 side much narrower than
the other 2.
Key features:-
1) Perianth-tube, usually at least ½ as long as the segments.
2) Leaves, uniform in size.
3) Plant, usually procumbent.
Habitat:- Ruderal habitats, but also dolines and snowbed meadows in mountains.
Distribution:- Almost a cosmopolitan weed, but on Crete confined mainly to the
three main massifs.
Flowering time:- May-Oct.
Photos by:- Thomas Giannakis
