Climbers List |
Deciduous List |
Dock & Knotweed Family [Polygonaceae] |
category
category
status
flower
inner
morph
petals
(3+2)type
stem
16th Aug 2010, Southport sand dunes, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Will aggressively and quickly scramble to over two storeys high completely smothering and enveloping any house or tree. |
5th Aug 2004, Grange over Sands, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
When in flower has very showy creamy-white trusses of flowers. (Here climbing amidst leaves of Common Polypody). |
Linnyshaw Road, Walkden, Gtr M/cr. | Photo: © RWD |
Leaves typically Bindweedin shape. Leaf stems can be reddish. |
11th Aug 2015, Leeds & L/pool canal, Parbold, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
31st Aug 2009, Linnyshaw Road, Walkden, Gtr M/cr. | Photo: © RWD |
A flower stalk emerges from the axils of short reddish brown 'spikes' or more correctly pedicels. |
13th Aug 2007, Chesterfield Canal. | Photo: © RWD |
From up close the flower trusses are seen to consist of a mixture of 5 tepals, three of which are winged/keeled on the outer side and have a lime-green stripe along the centreline and which protect the fruit (similar to those on Docks). The two other tepals are not winged and lack the lime-green stripe. The zygomorphic 3+2 arrangement of tepals together form the inflorescence and resemble a 'five-petalled' flower. |
17th Aug 2007, Ambergate, Derbyshire. | Photo: © RWD |
Three of the tepals are reddish to greenish white bulges within three white wings. The 3-winged tepals open up to become part of the five-tepalled flowers (with 3 of them winged) plus two extra tepals which have mysteriously appeared from somewhere when the inflorescence opens - perhaps they were inside? |
17th Aug 2007, Ambergate, Derbyshire. | Photo: © RWD |
The flowers have five 'petals' (actually tepals), three of which have a greenish stripe down the centre and arranged in an equilateral triange; plus two slightly shorter white tepals without stripes sitting between two of the larger tepals, making an bi-symmetric (zygomorphic) arrangement. |
17th Aug 2007, Ambergate, Derbyshire. | Photo: © RWD |
The three plus two tepal arrangement on display. Eight stamens carry cream-coloured pollen at the tips. The tripled inner are the three lime-greenish styles. |
11th Aug 2015, Leeds & L/pool canal, Parbold, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Low hanging flower. Stamens (8) witb white filaments and white anthers. Stigma with 3 lime-green styles. |
11th Aug 2015, Leeds & L/pool canal, Parbold, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Stigma with lime-green styles. |
16th Aug 2010, Southport sand dunes, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Tepals, clustered in hanging lianas which typically terminate the flowering stems. |
11th Aug 2015, Leeds & L/pool canal, Parbold, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Photo inverted so that the on-looker is much better able to discern the tri-winged structure of the 3 external winged tepals. |
17th Aug 2007, Ambergate, Derbyshire. | Photo: © RWD |
The ovate/triangular leaves are wavy-edged and often bronzed when young. |
31st Aug 2009, Linnyshaw Road, Walkden, Gtr M/cr. | Photo: © RWD |
Older leaves are dark green. Lower stems woody. |
11th Aug 2015, Leeds & L/pool canal, Parbold, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Technically, the leaves are ovate-triangular, cordate, and obtuse to acuminate. |
Not to be confused with : Some similarities to : Black Bindweed but that grows very much shorter, is an annual rather than a perennial, and has much smaller flowers with many more tepals than flowers.
Hybridizes with : Uniquely identifiable characteristics Distinguishing Feature : When grown in gardens, this plant can be very troublesome, rampantly growing so tall as to cover the house and block out the windows or cause damage. It can easily climb up to two storeys high.
A member of the Dock and Knotweed Family it exhibits characteristics of both: it has tepals like docks and it has sheaths on the stems at every node like Knotgrasses. But the leaves are more characteristic of Bindweeds and Knotweeds than Dock. Indeed, it shares the same Genus name Fallopia with
Habitat includes gardens, but is often naturalised in hedges, in scrub and on cliffs. Unlike its cousin The fruit, in reality an achene, is about 2mm long and shiny black. It is native to the far East such as western China and Tibet. It is said by some that some cultivated 'varieties' differ from the wild, but Mr. Clive Stace finds no evidence for this.
|
Fallopia | baldschuanica | ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ | Polygonaceae |
Fallopia (Bindweeds) |
Dock & Knotweed Family [Polygonaceae] |