Family: knotweeds (Polygonaceae)
Flowering time: July–October
Size: stem up to 30 cm long
Habitat: dry ruderal sites, trampled soils
Prostrate knotweed (Polygonum arenastrum) is an annual that sends up numerous prostrate stems. These, in shaded places, can also be somewhat creeping (toward the end raised from the ground). Stems up to 30 cm long, slender, are richly branched. They are leafed with oval to lanceolate leaves, which are up to 2 cm long and up to 0.5 cm wide. All stem leaves are more or less the same length. One to three small, five-petaled flowers develop in the leaf axils of the stem leaves. The greenish or pink petals are generally broadly white-bordered, with the lower part up to 1/3 raised and with inconspicuous venation.
Prostrate knotweed thrives in bright places, on dry, nitrogen-rich soils that are under constant human influence (ruderal habitats). Widespread and common throughout Slovenia.
