• NSF NEON | Open Data to Understand our Ecosystems
  • Biorepository Data Portal

  • Home
  • Search
    • Sample search
    • Map search
    • Dynamic Species List
    • Taxonomic Explorer
  • Images
    • Image Browser
    • Image Search
  • Datasets
    • Research Datasets and Special Collections
    • Checklist: Research Sites - Invertebrates
    • Checklist: Research Sites - Plants
    • Checklist: Research Sites - Vertebrates
  • Sample Use
    • Sample Use Policy
    • Sample Request
    • Sample Archival Request
    • Data Usage Policy
  • Additional Information
    • Tutorials and Help
    • About NEON
    • NEON Data Portal
    • ASU Biocollections
    • About Symbiota
  • Getting Started
Login New Account Sitemap
Fallopia scandens (L.) Holub  

No occurrences found

Family: Polygonaceae
climbing false buckwheat, more...climbing false buckwheat
[Bilderdykia scandens (L.) Greene, morePolygonum dumetorum var. scandens (L.) A.Gray, Polygonum scandens L., Polygonum scandens var. scandens , Reynoutria scandens (L.) Shinners, Tiniaria scandens (L.) Small]
Fallopia scandens image
Paul Rothrock
  • FNA
  • Gleason & Cronquist
  • Resources
Craig C. Freeman, James L. Reveal in Flora of North America (vol. 5)
Herbs, perennial or annual, not rhizomatous, 1-5 m. Stems scandent or sprawling, freely branched, herbaceous, glabrous or papillose to scabrid, not glaucous. Leaves: ocrea usually deciduous, tan or brown, cylindric to funnelform, 1-6 mm, margins oblique, face not fringed with reflexed hairs and slender bristles at base, otherwise glabrous or scabrid; petiole 0.5-10 cm, glabrous or scabrid in lines; blade cordate, truncate-deltate, or hastate, 2-14 × 2-7 cm, base cordate, margins wavy, scabrid, apex acuminate, abaxially and adaxially faces glabrous or papillose to scabrid, not glaucous, the abaxial rarely minutely dotted. Inflorescences axillary, erect or spreading, racemelike, 1-28 cm, axes scabrid; peduncle 0.1-7 cm or absent, scabrid. Pedicels ascending or spreading to reflexed, articulated distally, 4-8 mm, glabrous. Flowers bisexual, 3-6 per ocreate fascicle; perianth accrescent in fruit, green to white or pinkish, 3.8-8 mm including stipelike base, glabrous; tepals elliptic to obovate, apex obtuse to acute, outer 3 winged; stamens 8; filaments flattened proximally, pubescent proximally; styles connate; stigmas capitate. Achenes included, dark brown to black, 2-6 × 1.4-3.5 mm, shiny, smooth; fruiting perianth glabrous, wings undulate or crinkled, rarely flat, (0.7-)1.5-2.1 mm wide, decurrent on stipelike base nearly to articulation, margins wavy-crenate to incised or lacerate, rarely entire. 2n = 20. Flowering Aug-Nov. Low habitats; 0-1800 m; Alta., Man., N.B., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis., Wyo. Fallopia scandens has a complex nomenclatural history, which in North America usually involves three taxonomic elements: F. scandens and F. cristata, both native in North America, and F. dumetorum, which is native in Europe. Achene and perianth characters have been used to distinguish these elements, but variable and intergrading morphologies have caused taxonomists to combine them variously. Morphometric (S. T. Kim et al. 2000) and flavonoid (M. H. Kim et al. 2000) studies suggest that F. scandens and F. dumetorum are distinct species. Where F. scandens is absent, European specimens of F. dumetorum are distinctive. This distinction is far less clear in North America, where both species occur. Experience suggests that many North American herbarium specimens attributed to F. dumetorum are misidentified.

Fallopia cristata has been distinguished from F. scandens and F. dumetorum by its smaller fruiting perianths (5-7[-9] mm) bearing narrower (1.2-1.7 mm wide), undulate-crenate or lacerate wings, and smaller achenes (2.1-2.7 mm). Extreme forms are easily identified; some specimens grade gradually into F. scandens, making recognition of F. cristata of questionable utility. S. T. Kim et al. (2000) used morphometric studies as a basis for recommending that F. cristata is best treated as a variety of F. scandens.

Vascular plants of NE US and adjacent Canada
Twining perennial to 5 m, the stem sharply angled, often scabrellate on the angles; lvs oblong-ovate or broadly cordate, acuminate, deeply cordate at base; ocreae very oblique, smooth, racemes from most upper axils, usually unbranched, leafless or nearly so, 5-11 cm, interrupted; pedicels winged above the joint; perianth 1.5-2.5 mm, white, achene very glossy black, 3-5 mm, closely invested and much exceeded by the perianth; outer 3 tep at maturity with broadly winged midrib, the whole fr, measured from the joint in the pedicel, 7-15 mm; 2n=20, and some higher number. Moist woods, thickets, and roadsides; Que. to N.D., s. to Fla. and Tex. (Bilderdykia s.; Tiniaria s.) Three vars.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Fallopia scandens image
Paul Rothrock
Click to Display
2 Total Images
NSF NEON | Open Data to Understand our Ecosystems The National Ecological Observatory Network is a major facility fully funded by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.