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Polygonaceae: buckwheat family

Buck WheatThere are about 1,000 species of plants in this family. Most of them are herbs and shrubs. Most plants in this family grow in the Northern Hemisphere in temperate regions. The flowers of plants in this family are usually small and white, green, or yellow. The flowers have 3 to 9 stamens and are radially symmetrical. The roots are usually fibrous and the stems are usually straight. One distinguishing feature of the plants in this family is the ocrea. The ocrea is a sheath formed at the node of a stem by the joining of two stipules.   
Buck WheatPlants in the Polygonaceae family found in the wild in New Hampshire include: buckwheat, bushy knotweed, common sheep sorrel, curly dock, swamp smartweed, willow dock, rhubarb, and mountain sorrel.