Photographs: Co. Cork

Water-pepper Persicaria hydropiper (Polygonum hydropiper) Biorphiobar Family: Polygonaceae Flowering time: July-September. Annual. Native. Spikes of very small pinkish to green-white flowers are terminal and also grow from the leaf axils. The fruit is a black nut. The leaves have a hot, peppery taste and are thin, lanceolate and short-stalked, sometimes turning orange/yellow in autumn. Branched hair-less stem, erect or straggling, red tinged. To 75cm. Abundant except in parts of central Ireland on damp ground and near water margins

Water-pepper, Persicaria hydropiper, Biorphiobar