Knotgrass
Polygonum aviculare
Family · Polygonaceae · Harmless
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The tough prostrate herb that grows in the middle of paths, in pavement joints and where cars drive over it. It takes being trodden every day and carries on, which almost no plant does.
Town and roadside · Roadsides and waste ground · Fields and pasture
Also known asprostrate knotweed, birdweed
How to tell it
At each stem node there is a membranous, silvery, translucent sheath wrapping the stem like a paper ring: it is called an ochrea and is the mark of the whole family. Small alternate leaves. Tiny whitish or pinkish flowers in the axils.
What it is confused with
Field bindweed
Convolvulus arvensis
The common names get mixed up in several languages. Bindweed climbs and has funnel flowers several centimetres across; knotgrass is prostrate, does not climb, and has tiny flowers and the papery ochrea at each node.
What it is for
Young leaves eaten cooked, and an astringent infusion with a long European tradition. It is important food for seed-eating birds in late summer, hence one of the English names.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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