Flowers and leaves. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Flowering plant. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Flowers and leaves. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Flowering plant. Photo: Don Wood, Scotia Sanctuary, NSW

Common Name

Small Knotweed

Family

Polygonaceae

Notes

Annual forb, prostrate to sprawling.  Leaves alternating along the stems, with a sheath at the base, 0.3-2cm long, 1-3.5mm wide, flat, hairless, minutely warty, edges strongly curved downwards, with a straight point.  Flowers small (less than 3mm across), pink to white, with 5 'petals' joined at the base, in clusters of 2-5 flowers at the bases of the leaves.

Description and photo in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 233

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Polygonum~plebeium