Persicaria strigosa (R.Br.) Gross

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.

[From: Webb et al. (1985) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 4 as Polygonum strigosum R.Br.]