#fallopia

Climbing false buckwheat

Fallopia scandens, pretty common everywhere; especially Warren co, Greene co,. and Clark co. 

Fallopia scandens is not a fen obligate, nor is it a wetland obligate; but, it is more commonplace along mesic forest edge and especially around riparian zones where its commonly twining through the rag weed or what ever annual is making it’s self the most present.  Fallopia scandens lacks true ochrea/ocrea making it part of the true buckwheat group(Not generas however) and not part of the smartweed group instead the plesiomorphic traits are more of synapomorphic traits and are in the seeds and inflorescence not directly in the flower. 

Synapomorphy: (shared by the groups common ancestor and it’s direct descendants) Polygonaceae has similar inflorescence and seed formation through out. Only subtle differences occur.

Plesiomorphy: Ochrea is a good example of this  and occurs in two major groups or two clade branches before disappearing in other liniages. the two clades have retained this trait from an (ancestral trait) An evolutionary trait that is homologous within a particular group of organisms but is not unique to members of that group (compare apomorphy) and therefore cannot be used as a diagnostic or defining character for specifying genus but is an additive morphological character for keying out the groups:

Colloquial true smart weeds: Persicaria spp. (Knotweed) and Polygonum spp. (Knotgrass)

Colloquial true buckwheats: The Eurasian genus, Fagopyrum spp., and the North American genus, Eriogonum spp.

When a new species occurs, an autoapomorphy is evolved in the family that makes this species distinct enough to be broken off as it’s own species. Over evolutionary time this species can evolve in multiple directions and functionally preserve this old autoapomorphy in it’s different evolved taxa making them synapomorphies until they become ranked as plesiomorphy once the trait is gone in some groups but common in others.