any polygonaceous plant of the genus Polygonum, having stems with knotlike joints and spikes of small white, green, or pink flowers
Also called (obsolete): polygony. See also knotgrass, bistort, prince's feather (sense 2)
Word origin
C18: New Latin, from Greek polugonon knotgrass, from polu-poly- + -gonon, from gonu knee
polygonum in American English
(poʊˈlɪgənəm; pəˈlɪgənəm)
noun
any of a genus (Polygonum) of annual or perennial plants of the buckwheat family, having conspicuous enlarged nodes, ocreae, and small whitish, greenish, or pink flowers in the leaf axils or in terminal clusters
Word origin
ModL < L polygonon < Gr, kind of plant, knotgrass < poly-, many (see poly-) + gony, a joint, knee: from the many joints