Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Caryophyllales Juss. ex Bercht. & J.Presl
Family
Polygonaceae
Genus
Persicaria (L.) Mill.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Persicaria decipiens (R.Br.) K.L.Wilson, Telopea 3: 178 (1988)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Polygonum decipiens R.Br., Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holland. 420 (1810)
  • = Polygonum salicifolium Willd., Enum. Pl. [Willdenow] 428 (1809)
 Description

Annual or short-lived perennial herb, glabrous or glabrate; stems prostrate or decumbent, rooting at the lower nodes, sparingly branched; roots rather slender. Lvs on main stems and branches similar; petioles short or lvs subsessile. Lamina to 15 × 4 cm, lanceolate, often with dark markings above, entire or minutely serrulate, glabrous or sometimes with appressed hairs on midrib above and below, copiously dotted with glands below; margins appressed-ciliate; base cuneate to rounded; apex acuminate. Ochreae c. 1.5 cm long, green or pinkish, obliquely truncate, not flared towards apex, long-ciliate. Fls 1–4 in whorls forming simple or few-branched, terminal or axillary racemes; racemes erect or slightly curved, 1.5–8 cm long, sometimes very slender and whorls distant, sometimes wider, cylindric, and densely flowered; peduncles slender, > upper lvs; pedicels enveloped or slightly exserted from bracts; bracts truncate, ciliate or glabrous. Perianth 2–2.5 mm long, deep pink to whitish, eglandular, accrescent; segments ± elliptic, imbricate. Nut 1.7–2.5 mm long, biconvex to almost plano-convex, blackish, ± glossy.

[From: Webb et al. (1985) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 4 as Polygonum salicifolium Willd.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
 Bibliography
Brown, R. 1810: Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van-Diemen. Johnson, London.
Connor, H.E. 1977: The Poisonous Plants in New Zealand. Edition 2. Government Printer, Wellington. [as Polygonum decipiens R.Br.]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]
Willdenow, C.L. von 1809: Enumeratio Plantarum Horti Regii Botanici Berolinensis. Berlin.
Wilson, K.L. 1988: Polygonum sensu latu (Polygonaceae) in Australia. Telopea 3: 177–182.
Wilson, K.L. 1990: Some widespread species of Persicaria (Polygonaceae) and their allies. Kew Bulletin 45(4): 621–636.