Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Caryophyllales > Polygonaceae > Polygonum > Polygonum douglasii

Polygonum douglasii (Douglas' knotweed; Douglas knotweed)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

Polygonum douglasii is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family known by the common name Douglas's knotweed. It is native to much of northern and western North America, where it can be found in many types of habitat, including disturbed areas. It has been found in Canada from British Columbia north to Yukon and east as far as Québec, and in the United States as far south as California, New Mexico, Iowa, and New York. Polygonum douglasii is known as a species complex, as there are many subspecies that may be better treated as species in their own right.
View Wikipedia Record: Polygonum douglasii

Infraspecies

Attributes

Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-High
Edible [2]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [2]  Hermaphrodite
Hazards [2]  Although no specific mention has been made for this species, there have been reports that some members of this genus can cause photosensitivity in susceptible people. Many species also contain oxalic acid (the distinctive lemony flavour of sorrel) - whilst not toxic this substance can bind up other minerals making them unavailable to the body and leading to mineral deficiency. Having said that, a number of common foods such as sorrel and rhubarb contain oxalic acid and the leaves of most members of this genus are nutritious and beneficial to eat in moderate quantities. Cooking the leaves will reduce their content of oxalic acid. People with a tendency to rheumatism, arthritis, gout, kidney stones or hyperacidity should take especial caution if including this plant in their diet since it can aggravate their condition;
Lifespan [2]  Annual
Pollinators [2]  Insects, Lepidoptera
Structure [3]  Herb
Height [2]  12 inches (0.3 m)
View Plants For A Future Record : Polygonum douglasii

Protected Areas

Predators

Epidemia helloides[4]
Lycaena nivalis (Lilac-bordered Copper)[5]
Tamias ruficaudus (red-tailed chipmunk)[6]

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1Derived from Allergy-Free Gardening OPALS™, Thomas Leo Ogren (2000)
2Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
3Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935
4HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
5Butterflies of Canada, Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility
6Tamias ruficaudus, Troy L. Best, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 452, pp. 1-7 (1993)
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0