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Family: Polygonaceae (rhubarb family)
Life
> eukaryotes >
Archaeoplastida >
Chloroplastida
>
Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants)
> Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants)
> Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering
plants) > Core Eudicots
> Order: Caryophyllales
About 43 genera and 1110 species, occurring worldwide, with
four genera and 35 species native to southern Africa, an additional three genera
and 14 species that are naturalised, and an additional seven genera and 11
species that are cultivated in the region.
Genera native to southern Africa
Information mainly from Germishuizen (2000).
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Oxygonum
About 32 species,
native to Africa and Madagascar, with six species native to southern
Africa. |
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Persicaria
About 150 species, found in temperate regions
worldwide, with nine species native to southern Africa and six
species that are naturalised in the region. |
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Polygonum
About 20 species, native mainly to the temperate
regions of the northern hemisphere. Five species are native to
southern Africa and one species is naturalised to the region. |
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Rumex
Over 200 species, found mainly in temperate regions
worldwide, with 15 species native to southern Africa and three species that are naturalised in the region. |
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Genera naturalised in southern Africa
Information mainly from Germishuizen (2000).
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Emex
One species is naturalised in southern Africa - Emex australis. |
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Fagopyrum (Buckwheat genus)
Eight species, native to Europe and Asia.
Fagopyrum esculentum (Buckwheat) is cultivated in southern Africa and occasionally occurs as an escape. |
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Fallopia
About nine
species, native to temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. The
cosmopolitan weeds Fallopia convolvulus and Fallopia
sachalinensis (= Reynoutria sachalinensis) have become naturalised in
southern Africa. |
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Other genera, cultivated in southern Africa
Information from Glen (2002).
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Antigonon
leptopus (Confederate Vine, Mexican
Creeper)
Native to Mexico and cultivated as a garden plant. |
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Coccoloba
Two species cultivated: Coccoloba latifolia and
Coccoloba uvifera. |
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Homalocladium platycladium (Tapeworm bush)
Native to the Solomon Islands. |
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Muehlenbeckia
Native to South America, Papua New Guinea, Australia and New
Zealand. Four species cultivated in southern Africa. |
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Oxyria digyna
Native to north temperate
regions. |
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Rheum x cultorum (Rhubarb)
Cultivated as a vegetable
in southern Africa. |
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Triplaris americana (Palo santo, Triplaris, Ant Tree)
Native from Panama to Brazil. A
declared Category 1 invasive plant
in South Africa. |
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Publications
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Glen, H.F. 2002. Cultivated plants of
southern Africa. Jacana, Johannesburg.
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Germishuizen, G. 2000. Polygonaceae. In: Seed Plants of
Southern Africa (ed. O.A. Leistner). Strelitzia 10: 451-453).
National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
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