Persicaria strigosa
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Simplified description
Prickly scrambling herb, either forming dense patches or scrambling through other vegetation, leaves mostly triangular in outline with backward pointing lobes, small (2 to 3 mm long) pink flowers in open branched flowerheads at the top of stem.
Flower colours
Red/Pink, White
Detailed description
Annual herb; stems to > 50 cm long, lax or sprawling, with numerous deflexed scabrid bristles to c. 1 mm long; roots slender. Lvs ± similar; petiole to 1 cm long, filiform, scabrid. Lamina 3-7 × 0.5-1.2 cm, linear-lanceolate; midrib below with scattered bristles; margin ciliolate, entire; base ± hastate or sagittate; apex obtuse or subacute. Ochreae usually 1-1.5 cm long, glabrous, soon brown and papery; apex truncate. Racemes terminal or in axils of upper lvs, to 12 cm long, very slender; fls few, distant. Peduncles dichotomous, conspicuously glandular-hairy, > lvs; pedicels very short, hidden by sheathing, glabrous or glabrate bracts until after anthesis. Perianth 2-3 mm long, accrescent, pink; segments ± broadly ovate-elliptic, imbricate and remaining almost closed, eglandular. Nut 2-2.5 mm long (including short beak), broad-ovoid or ellipsoid, brown, shining.
Similar taxa
Unlike any other willow weed, with prickly stems and leaves and the sprawling growth habit.
Distribution
Northland to northern Waikato.
Habitat
Swamp and water body margins.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Polygonaceae
Synonyms
Polygonum strigosum R.Br.
Ecology
Flowering
January to February
Fruiting
Autumn
Year naturalised
1976
Origin
Eastern Australia
Reason for introduction
Unknown, seed or soil contaminant.
Control techniques
Not controlled in New Zealand.
Life cycle and dispersal
Seed dispersed by water, animals or contaminated machinery.
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland). If you have suggestions for the Wetland Indicator Status Rating, please contact: [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]
FACW: Facultative Wetland
Usually is a hydrophyte but occasionally found in uplands (non-wetlands).
Other information
Etymology
persicaria: Medieval name referring to the likeness of the leaves to a peach tree
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
PERSTR
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Johnson PN, Brooke PA (1989). Wetland plants in New Zealand. DSIR Field Guide, DSIR Publishing, Wellington. 319pp.
Webb, C.J.; Sykes, W.R.; Garnock-Jones, P.J. (1988). Flora of New Zealand Volume 4: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch.
Attribution
Prepared by Paul Champion and Deborah Hofstra (NIWA). Features description from Webb et al. (1988).
Some of this factsheet information is derived from Flora of New Zealand Online and is used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence.