polygonum

noun

any polygonaceous plant of the genus Polygonum, having stems with knotlike joints and spikes of small white, green, or pink flowersSee also knotgrass, bistort, prince's feather (def. 2)

Word Origin for polygonum

C18: New Latin, from Greek polugonon knotgrass, from polu- poly- + -gonon, from gonu knee

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Examples from the Web for polygonum

Historical Examples of polygonum

Both the viviparous grass and the polygonum are found in England.
More Science From an Easy Chair
Sir E. Ray (Edwin Ray) Lankester
Meissner records a similar augmentation in Polygonum orientale.
Vegetable Teratology
Maxwell T. Masters
Polygonum Persicaria (lady's-thumb), log-path, Chesuncook, 1853.
The Maine Woods
Henry David Thoreau
Polygonum cilinode (fringe-jointed false-buckwheat), common.
The Maine Woods
Henry David Thoreau
From the dried root of bistort or snake-weed (Polygonum Bistorta), by percolation with temperate distilled water.
Cooley's Cyclopdia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades..., Sixth Edition, Volume I
Arnold Cooley