Common name:
Red bistort
Family:
Scientific name:
Persicaria amplexicaulis
Main flower color:
Range:
Scattered areas of the UK; an introduced species
Height:
Up to 100 cm
Habitat:
Roadsides, waste ground, damp woodland, streambanks
Flowers:
Five spreading, red, ovate sepals, pointed at the tip, and five stamens, with red filaments and purple anthers. Flowers are arranged in an elongated, unbranched cluster at the top of the mostly leafless stem
Leaves:
Alternate, ovate, clasping, hairless on top, downy underneath, on hairless stems which are sheathed above the attachment point
Season:
August to October
Rarity:
★★★★★