Poke knotweed

Polygonum phytolaccifolium Meisner ex Small, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 19: 360. 1892

Plants (50-)70-150(-200) cm. Stems erect, glabrous or pubescent. Leaves: ocrea reddish brown, funnelform, 1-3 cm, margins oblique, glabrous or pubescent; petiole 5-20 mm; blade lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 5-15(-19) × 1.4-7.5 cm, not subcoriaceous, base rounded, margins entire, usually scabrous to ciliate, rarely glabrous, apex obtuse to acuminate, faces not glaucous, glabrous or densely pubescent. Inflorescences usually terminal, subterminal, and axillary, paniclelike; peduncle 0.5-12 cm, glabrous or pubescent. Pedicels 0.9-4 mm. Flowers 1-3 per ocreate fascicle, rarely some flowers with stamens poorly developed; perianth white to greenish white, 2.5-3.5 mm; tepals slightly dimorphic, ovate to obovate, apex obtuse; anthers yellow to pink. Achenes usually exserted, yellowish brown, not beaked distally, (3-)3.8-7 × 2.3-4.8 mm, shiny, faces concave.

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora): w United States.