Scientific name: Persicaria maculosa Gray
Common name: Redshank
Description
Habit: Annual, to 50 cm high.
Stems: Erect, sometimes straggling or trailing, with rhizomes.
Leaves: Alternate or basal, short-stalked, hairy on the underside, 7-10 cm long, undivided, untoothed oval-lanceolate, often with dark marking on upperside; stipules whitish or brown, united to form a sheath surrounding stem or leaf stalk.
Flowers: Pink or sometimes white, actinomorphic, numerous in several, compact, stout and erect axillary or terminal spikes; tepals 5, free, not winged, without glands; stamens 8; ovary superior, 1-celled, style 1, divided into 2 or 3.
Fruits: A small nut, 3-angled or 3-winged, 3 mm, black, shiny.
Habitat: Cultivated ground, roadsides, disturbed grassland, waste places and turloughs.Distribution: Frequent to occasional.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No