POLYGONUM IDAEUM

Family and Genus:- See- POLYGONACEAE/Sect. POLYGONUM

Common Names:- Nida knotgrass

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Polygonum (Gr) Many joints, a name used by the Greek physician and

botanist Dioscorides, a possible reference to the many nodes.

Idaeum (L) From Mount Ida in Crete.

General description:- Much condensed perennial; stock forming a dense, woody

mat.

Stems:-

1) Flowering, few to several, procumbent, mat forming 1-10 cm, internodes short,

swollen.

Leaves:-

1) First leaf of the branch petiolate, spathulate, the others subsessile, elliptic; 3-12

mm, lower surface pale, with prominent veins, papillose.

2) Ochreae, half as long as the internodes, silvery, ± lacerate.

Flowers:-

1) Solitary in the axils of the leaf-like bracts.

2) Perianth, usually 3-4 mm;

a) segments, connate at the base only, white to pink with a green centre.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlet, 3·5-5 mm, equalling or slightly exceeding the perianth, glossy.

Key features:-

1) Stems, woody at the base. 1-10 cm.

2) Ochreae, in inflorescence longer than the internodes, those in middle part of the

stem usually at least ½ as long as the internodes.

3) Stock, forming a dense, branched, woody mat.

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Habitat:- Typical constituent of the vegetation of dolines in the mountains, locally

abundant in Psiloritis. (1100-)1400-2200 m.

Distribution:- Endemic to the Psiloritis and Dikti Massifs.

Flowering time:- June-Aug.

Photos by:- Zacharias Angourakis