Climbing False Buckwheat

(Polygonum scandens)

Climbing False Buckwheat (Polygonum scandens L.)

Identification: Plant a climbing vine. Flowers greenish white or pink, small, star-shaped, and arranged in a small spike spray. Fruit with paperlike wings. Stem rough, climbing on other plants or objects, sometimes tinged with red. Leaves broad, arrowhead-shaped, with a distinct petiole, and indented at the base.

Distribution: Throughout eastern and central North America.

Habitat: Climbing False Buckwheat is usually found along the margins of woods, thickets, and along the shores of lakes and ponds.

Flowering period: August to November.

Similar Species: Climbing False Buckwheat is most likely to be mistaken for Buckwheat. However Buckwheat is an upright plant, not a vine. Black Bindweed is very similar, but the flowers are nearly sessile to the stem, not in short racemes.