Polygonum paronychia

Beach knotweed

Family: Polygonaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Beach knotweed is a California native perennial found in coastal bioregions including Northern and Central Coast in coastal dunes and scrub habitats at elevations below 50 meters. Flowering from March to September, this plant produces delicate pink or white flowers in small clusters, with blooms turning red-brown when dry. Growing with prostrate or ascending stems 10 to 100 centimeters long that root at nodes, it has a distinctive leathery appearance with brown, angled branches. Its leaves are crowded toward stem tips, linear to oblanceolate, 10 to 20 millimeters long with margins rolled under and acute tips. The fruit is a shiny black, ovate structure approximately 4 to 5 millimeters long.

Habitat: Coastal dunes, scrub

Bloom period: Mar-Sep

Elevation: < 50 m

Bioregions: NCo, CCo

California counties: Humboldt, Mendocino, San Francisco, Marin, San Mateo, Monterey, Del Norte, Sonoma, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.