Polygonum punctatum Elliott
Annual or perennial herb; stems ± erect, 0.5-1.5-(2) m tall, glabrous, glandular-punctate; roots fairly stout. Lvs on main stem and branches similar; petioles 3-15-(20) mm long. Lamina 4-15 × 1-4 cm, lanceolate to narrow-ovate, yellowish green or deep green, finely glandular-punctate below; margins ciliolate and ± undulate; veins beneath and midrib above with very short, ± appressed hairs; base cuneate; apex ± acuminate. Ochreae to 2.5 cm long, truncate, with fringing bristles, usually with very short appressed hairs, sometimes uppermost glabrous, at upper nodes rather tightly appressed to stem. Racemes slender, spike-like, to c. 10 cm long, usually at least partly curving downwards, the lower fls usually distant; pedicels soon > bracts. Perianth 2-3 mm long, accrescent, prominently dotted with brownish glands, white or pale greenish; segments ± broad-elliptic, strongly imbricate. Nut 2.5-3.5 mm long, biconvex or unequally trigonous, shining, finely granular, dark brown.
N.: N. Auckland to Waikato; S.: sporadic in Nelson and Marlborough.
N. and S. America 1976
Wet places such as swamps, ditches, lakesides and streamsides.
FL Nov-Jun.
Characters of the N.Z. plants put them closer to P. punctatum than any other sp., judging from descriptions in Floras and from specimens. However in the few American specimens examined, the frs. are smooth instead of being finely granular as in N.Z. plants, although they are ± glossy in both cases. Otherwise, the tallness and robustness of the N.Z. plants mean that they also resemble descriptions of the American P. robustius (Small) Fern. Both spp. are related to the Old World P. hydropiper. Within N.Z., North Id plants have deep green lvs, whereas South Id plants have yellowish green lvs, but the greater size of vegetative parts still distinguishes them all from P. hydropiper. Also, the only moderately peppery taste, the ± tubular and appressed upper ochreae, white perianth, and obviously shining frs usually distinguish P. punctatum from P. hydropiper.
