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The Polygonaceae are a family of known Common name as the knotweed family or smartweed—buckwheat family in the United States. The Botanical name is Basionym on the genus Polygonum, and was first used by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1789 in his book, Genera Plantarum.Antoine Laurent de Jussieu. 1789. Genera plantarum: secundum ordines naturales disposita, juxta methodum in Horto regio parisiensi exaratam. page 82. Herrisant and Barrois: Paris, France. (see External links below) The name may refer to the many swollen nodes the stems of some species have, being Etymology from Greek language ( meaning and meaning or ). Alternatively, it may have a different origin, meaning 'many seeds'.
The Polygonaceae comprise about 1200 speciesDavid J. Mabberley. 2008. Mabberley's Plant-Book third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK. distributed into about 48 genera. The largest genera are Eriogonum (240 species), Rumex (200 species), Coccoloba (120 species), Persicaria (100 species) and Calligonum (80 species).Craig C. Freeman and James L. Reveal. 2005. "Polygonaceae" pages 216-601. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee (editors). Flora of North America vol. 5. Oxford University Press: New York, NY, USA. (see External links below)John Brandbyge. 1993. "Polygonaceae". pages 531-544. In: Klaus Kubitzki (editor); Jens G. Rohwer, and Volker Bittrich (volume editors). The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants volume II. Springer-Verlag: Berlin; Heidelberg, Germany (Berlin) (New York) The family is present worldwide, but is most Biodiversity in the North Temperate Zone.
Several species are Horticulture as Ornamental plant.Anthony Huxley, Mark Griffiths, and Margot Levy (1992). The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. The Macmillan Press,Limited: London. The Stockton Press: New York. (set). A few species of Triplaris provide lumber. The fruit of the sea grape ( Coccoloba uvifera) is eaten, and in Florida, Fruit preserves is made from it and sold commercially.George W. Staples and Derral R. Herbst "A Tropical Garden Flora" Bishop Museum Press: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. (2005) The seeds of two species of Fagopyrum, known as buckwheat, are eaten in the form of groats or used to make flour. The petioles of rhubarb ( Rheum rhabarbarum and hybrids) are a food item. The leaves of the common sorrel ( Rumex acetosa) are eaten in or as a leaf vegetable.Vernon H. Heywood, Richard K. Brummitt, Ole Seberg, and Alastair Culham. Flowering Plant Families of the World. Firefly Books: Ontario, Canada. (2007). .
Polygonaceae contain some of the most prolific Ruderal species, including species of Persicaria, Rumex and Polygonum, as well as Japanese knotweed.
The last comprehensive revision of the family was published in 1993 by John Brandbyge as part of Kubitzki system. Brandbyge followed earlier systems of plant classification in dividing Polygonaceae into two subfamilies, Eriogonoideae and Polygonoideae. Since 1993, the circumscriptions of these two subfamilies have been changed in light of phylogenetic Research of . Genera related to Coccoloba and Triplaris were moved from Polygonoideae to Eriogonoideae. The genus Symmeria does not belong to either of these subfamilies because it is a sister to the rest of the family. Afrobrunnichia might constitute a new subfamily as well.
Brandbyge wrote descriptions for 43 genera of Polygonaceae in 1993. Since then, a few more genera have been erected, and some segregates of Brunnichia, Eriogonum, and Persicaria have been given generic Taxonomic rank in major works.Anjen Li, Bojian Bao, Alisa E. Grabovskaya-Borodina, Suk-pyo Hong, John McNeill, Sergei L. Mosyakin, Hideaki Ohba, and Chong-wook Park. 2003. "Polygonaceae" pages 277-350. In: Zhengyi Wu, Peter H. Raven, and Deyuan Hong (editors). Flora of China volume 5. Science Press: Beijing, China; Missouri Botanical Garden Press: St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Some of the genera were found not to be monophyletic and their limits have been revised. These include Ruprechtia, Eriogonum, Chorizanthe, Persicaria, Aconogonon, Polygonum, Fallopia, and Muehlenbeckia.
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