Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Polygonum arenastrum

Flowering stems. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, ACT

Flowering stems. Photographer Don Wood, Tallaganda State Forest NE of Cooma

Flowering stems. Photographer Don Wood, Namadgi National Park, ACT

Common name

Wireweed, Hogweed, Sand wireweed

Family

Polygonaceae

Where found

Disturbed sites and grassy areas. Mainly Sydney area and Canberra. Widespread elsewhere but not common.

Notes

Introduced annual or biennial herb, prostrate to sprawling, stems to 1 m long. Stems hairless. Leaves alternating along the stems, 0.5-3 cm long, 2-11 mm wide, hairless, with a stipular sheath at the base which soon disintegrates, margins sometimes wavy, rarely slightly curved down, tips pointed to blunt.  Leaves all of similar size. Flowers 1.8-3 mm long, with 5 'petals' joined at the base, 'petals' white or pink, sometimes red outsid e, in groups of 1-4 in the leaf axils, continuing along the stems. Flowers mostly summer.

Formerly confused with Polygonum aviculare.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Polygonum~arenastrum  (accessed 22 January, 2021)