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Climbing False Buckwheat (Fallopia scandens (L.) Holub)

Also classified as Polygonum scandens L., Fallopia cristata (Engelm. & A.Gray) Holub.

USDA PLANTS treats the introduced thicket bindweed (Fallopia dumetorum) under the name Polygonum scandens var. dumetorum. We separate these taxa into different species and place both in the Fallopia genus, which most other authorities do as well. A third taxon is recognized by some authorities: USDA PLANTS recognizes Polygonum scandens L. var. cristatum, which POWO and a number of other sources consider a proper species Fallopia cristata. However, following Desjardins et al. (2023) we instead treat them both as belonging to this species without even recognizing any varieties, a treatment in line with both BONAP and FSUS.

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Range - Expand

LegendColor
Native
Native or Not Present
Native or Expanded
Expanded or Not Present

This tentative map is based on our own research. It may have limited data on Canada and/or Mexico, and there is some subjectivity in our assignment of plants as introduced vs. expanded. Read more in this blog post.

Some sources report this species as having both native and introduced populations, which reflects different taxonomic treatments explained above. Under our treatment, this species is native everywhere it occurs in North America, except for a small area of Colorado where it has established new populations; we treat these as Expanded because of their proximity to native populations in eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska and Kansas. This species is also native to Canada but we have yet to build its map.