Seasonal Wild Flowers

Redshank

Persicaria maculosa

Polygonaceae

Persicaria, Redleg

June to September

It is found throughout the country except for parts of the

Southwest.

See the BSBI distribution map for Redshank

Redshank is a weed of cultivated soils and is common on waste

land, in cracks in pavements, on banks by the edge of freshwater,

and along roads, railways and paths.

It is a native, erect to sprawlling annual herb growing up to 75cm.

It can grow as a single plant or in large patches.

Flowers are in terminal or lateral pink spikes.

Individual unopened flowers resemble pink beads.

Open flowers are white with 2 white styles and stigmas and 6-9

white stamens and anthers.

Fruits are triangular nuts.

Stems are red, with swallen nodes.

Leaves are lanceolate with a dark mark like a finger-shaped blood

stain, which has variously been attributed to Christ's blood from

the Cross, and the place where either the Devil or the Virgin

Mary touched the leaf.

Redshank growing in a crack in pavement

Growing unimpeded on waste land

Terminal flower spike

Individual flowers - 2 stigmas and 6 stamens

Terminal and lateral flower spikes

Red stems and marked leaves