POLYGONUM MARITIMUM

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

Common Names:- Sea 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.

Maritimum (L) Growing by the sea.

General description:- Low, prostrate or sprawling perennial with a woody stock.

Stems:-

1) 10-50 cm, procumbent, branched, stout.

Leaves:-

1) 5-25 mm, narrowly elliptical, acute, glaucous, often blackening on drying,

margins revolute.

2) Ochreae, reddish-brown at the base, with 8-12 conspicuous, branched veins,

silvery-hyaline distally, longer than most of the internodes.

Flowers:-

1) Pink or whitish, solitary or in axillary clusters of 2-4; making up a leafy spike.

2) Bracts, leaf-like.

Fruit:-

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

Key features:-

1) Stock, sparingly branched.

2) Stems, usually more than 10 cm.

3) Ochreae, with 8-12 strong, branched veins.

4) Nut, 3·5-5 mm.

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Habitat:- A typical constituent of sandy beaches, together with Eryngium

maritimum, Medicago marina etc., rarely in ruderal habitats a short distance inland.

Distribution:- Fairly widespread around the Mediterranean coastal areas. Limited

distribution on Crete mainly in the west and east.

Flowering time:- Apr-July.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritaki