Photographs: Co. Cork and Co. Limerick

Amphibious Bistort Persicaria amphibia Glúineach uisce Family: Polygonaceae Flowering June-September. Perennial. Native. Short and often solitary dense spikes of pink flowers. Two forms - aquatic or terrestrial. Long-stalked leaves are round or truncate at base, floating leaves hairless and larger than those of terrestrial plants. Stems creeping, rooting at nodes. Spreads by seed and fragments of the long rhizomes. Widespread, the aquatic form in ponds, lakes, ditches and slow-flowing rivers, the terrestrial form in marshes, wet fields and dune-slacks.

Amphibious Bistort, Persicaria amphibia, Glúineach uisce