Lesser Knotweed

Lesser Knotweed, East Devon

Group of bell-shaped flowers

5 tepals, 8 stamens and 3 styles
and stigmas

Leaves and stems

Koenigia campanulata
Polygonaceae
June to October
It is scattered throughout the country but is much less
common in eastern areas.
For a map see the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland –
Lesser Knotweed
It is a neophyte introduced to the UK from the Himalayas
the early 1900s. It was grown as a garden plant and was
first noted as an escape in the wild in the early 1930s.
It grows beside streams and on damp hedge banks and
roadsides where it can form large patches. It spreads
mainly from throw outs and root fragment and continues
to increase in the UK..
Lesser Knotweed is a stoloniferous, patch-forming,
perennial herb growing up to 1m..
The bell-shaped perianth is small at up to 5mm.
It has 5 pink or white tepals.
There are 8 stamens with grey anthers and 3 white
styles with capitate stigmas.
The fruit is an achene but fertile seeds are not produced
in the UK.
Leaves are lanceolate to ovate and up to 7cm.
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