Persicaria capitata (Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don) H.Gross

Mat-like perennial with rather slender, ± woody rootstock and long, slender, creeping, rooting stems; shoots grooved, ± brown-hairy, reddish. Lvs on all shoots similar; petiole short or lvs subsessile. Lamina 15–40–(55) × 8–25–(35) mm, ± broad-ovate, becoming red with age, rose-pink and with brown or white hairs on veins below and generally on the midrib above, with a crescent-shaped brown or purplish mark above; margins entire or nearly so, strongly ciliate and with red marginal line; base ± cuneate, slightly oblique; apex acute or subacute. Ochreae (2)–3–9 mm long, brown-hairy, truncate. Fls in globose or subglobose heads, numerous; head (5)–7–15–(20) mm diam.; peduncles usually > lvs, erect, with 1–6 branches in the upper 1/2, glandular-hairy; pedicels 0; bracts scarious, almost = fls. Perianth 2.5–3 mm long, pink, scarcely accrescent; segments imbricate, ovate or elliptic-ovate, glabrous. Nut c. 1.5 mm long, trigonous, dark brown, smooth and glossy, tightly enclosed in persistent perianth.

[From: Webb et al. (1985) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 4 as Polygonum capitatum Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don]