Images: ©Jouko Lehmuskallio
Pale Persicaria
Persicaria lapathifolia
- Family: Dock Family – Polygonaceae
- Height: 20–80 cm (8–30 in.)
- Flower: Regular, ca. 1,5 mm (0.06 in.) long (elongates in fruit). Perianth consists of usu. five yellowish or pink segments that are united from base to halfway. Pedicel and perianth with yellow glands. Pistil formed from two fused carpels. Basally slightly united styles two. Stamens six.
- Leaves: Alternate. Stalked, hairless or densely hairy beneath. Blade lanceolate to narrow-elliptic, pointed or blunt, often with a dark blotch in the middle. Stipules fused into a stem-enclosing sheath (an ochrea) that is loose and hairless or very short-hairy at the mouth.
- Fruit: A brown, roundish but flat nut, appr. as long as the perianth.
- Habitat: Shores, arable land, waste ground, gardens, rubbish tips, and roadsides.
- Flowering time: July-September.
The pale persicaria is a variable annual often associated with old habitation. It is not very demanding but prefers nitrogen-rich soil. On fields this species is a troublesome weed. Its seeds remain viable for decades and may pass the alimentary canal of cattle intact.
The pale persicaria is divided in two subspecies, which are the more common ssp. pallida and more reddish ssp. lapathifolia. The fairly rare redshank (P. maculosa) looks quite like the pale persicaria. It differs in that it lacks glandular dots and usu. has a long-hairy ochrea, and by the styles that are fused from the base to halfway.
