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Persicaria sp. (most likely Persicaria attenuata)
Persicaria is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the family Polygonaceae, and plants of this genus are known commonly as "knotweeds" or "smartweeds." It has a cosmopolitan distribution, although this particular spotting of Persicaria attenuata is an Australian native. This is a tall herb with beautiful, delicate flowers arranged in branched spikes, and fairly large leaves. In Australia, it is a wetland indicator, and is a semi-aquatic species. The genus was segregated from Polygonum, and this particular species bore the synonym Polygonum attenuatum. PS: I use a guidebook called "A Brisbane Bushland" which is about flora and fauna found at Enoggera Reservoir, which lies just to the east of Gold Creek Reservoir, and is also in Brisbane Forest Park. There are four species of "smartweeds" that have been identified there, and from their description, syn. Polygonum attenuatum is the best match. The other three are P. subsessile, P. salicifolium, and P. strigosum. However, just to throw confusion into the mix, here's a list of 88 species belonging to the Polygonaceae family that can be found in Queensland - https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species-sear... This is why I procrastinate! I am not going through them all, so be my guest.
Spotted along the freshwater creek that flows into Gold Creek Reservoir, which lies just to the west of Brisbane. Freshwater lake, and dense native bushland vegetation of dry eucalypt forests and subtropical rainforests. Massive lantana growth along this watercourse.
An excellent link with great photos for Persicaria attenuata - http://www.northqueenslandplants.com/Aus... PS: It's taken me 12 months 'to the day' to post this spotting. That's 12 months worth of procrastination to do a couple of hours research that I put off doing exactly 12 months ago 'to the day!' And it would have been another 12 months had I not seen some photos of this bushwalk, and of this particular spotting, in my facebook feed this morning. Welcome to my world :-/
Spotted on May 6, 2018
Submitted on May 6, 2019
5 Comments
Each individual flower bud would be less than the size of a match head, and each set about as long as your finger. They are beautiful, delicate flowers, albeit very small ones.
How small are they?
Thank you for your comments. They are lovely flowers. As to why they are purple? Some of the smaller buds were purple, but as the flowers bloomed, they were completely white.
Its really cute
Why are they purple