SPECIES DESCRIPTION
POLYGONUM EQUISETIFORME
Family and Genus:- See- POLYGONACEAE/Sect. POLYGONUM/P.
Common Names:- Horsetail knotgrass
Homotypic Synonyms:- Polygonum corsicanum
Meaning:- Polygonum (Gr) Many joints, a name used by the Greek physician and
botanist Dioscorides, a possible reference to the many nodes.
Equisetiforme (L) Having a horsetail like habit.
General description:- Low, prostrate or sprawling perennial with a woody stock.
Stems:-
1) 30-100 cm, procumbent or ascending, usually branched.
Leaves:-
1) From 20-60 mm long, alternate, simple, elliptic, narrow, entire but toothed at the
top, glabrous, faded at flowering.
2) Ochrea, from 3-4 mm long, amplexicaule and shorter than the internodes.
Flowers:-
1) From 2-4 mm diam., carried by short reddish stems, joined together in long
clusters by 1-3 at the axil of very short bracts, pink white, with green marks.
2) Bracts, all leaf-like, much shorter than the lower leaves, at least as long as the
flowers and usually longer, not caducous.
3) Perianth, with 5 partly fused tepals.
4) Stamens, often 8, with a white filament and yellow anther.
5) Styles. 3
Fruit:-
1) Nutlet, without wings, blackish, very shiny.
a) achenes, from 2-5mm.
Key features:-
1) Bracts all leaf-like, much shorter than the lower leaves, at least as long as the
flowers and usually longer, not caducous.
2) Stem, 30-100 cm.
3) Leaves, 2-4 cm.
Habitat:- Coastal flats, streambeds, fallow fields and ruderal habitats. 0-600 m.
Distribution:- Scattered and fairly rare in mainland Peloponnisos and Ionian
Islands. - Mediterranean are including N Africa scattered in Anatolia and the Black
Sea region. Somewhat limited distribution on Crete, not common.
Flowering time:- (May-)July-Oct.
Photos by:- Steve Lenton
