Biology:Persicaria decipiens

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Short description: Species of plant

Persicaria decipiens
Persicaria decipiens habit6 Gwydir Wetlands (16570891204).jpg
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Polygonaceae
Genus: Persicaria
Species:
P. decipiens
Binomial name
Persicaria decipiens
(R.Br.) K.L.Wilson
Synonyms[1]

Persicaria decipiens, commonly known as slender knotweed, is a species of flowering plant native to Australia and Asia.[2]

Persicaria decipiens is a trailing plant whose stems grow horizontally at first but become more vertical with time,[3] reaching 30 cm (1 ft) high. Its narrow elliptic to lanceolate (spear-shaped) leaves are 5–12 cm (2–4.5 in) long and 0.5–1.3 cm (0.20–0.51 in) across.[2] The slender pink flower spikes appear from November to June, with a peak in February.[3] Cylindrical in shape, they are not stiff and tend to bend over.[2] The plant tends to die back in winter and regenerate after water.[3]

Persicaria decipiens was among the plants collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander on 5 May 1770 at Botany Bay during the first voyage of Captain James Cook.[4] Prolific Scottish botanist Robert Brown described the species as Polygonum decipiens in his 1810 work Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen.[5] It was given its current name by Karen Wilson in 1988 as the broadly defined genus Polygonum was split into smaller genera.[4] Common names include slender knotweed, willow weed and snake root.[6]

Flowerhead

P. decipiens is found in water and wet soil. It is found across Africa and the Mediterranean,[6] through southwestern Asia, Malesia and all states of Australia, as well as Norfolk Island, New Zealand and New Caledonia.[2] It has become naturalised in Madagascar.[6]

Likely pollinators of its flowers are insects, including honeybees, native bees, flies, wasps and small butterflies.[3]

Persicaria decipiens is not cultivated but is eaten locally in times of famine in Africa.[6]

References

External links

Wikidata ☰ Q15596188 entry