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| Creeping Knotweed; Polygonum arenastrum Jord. ex Bor. |
| called Polygonum aviculare L. in most books |
Buckwheat Family; POLYGONACEÆ
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| The Devil, most loathsome, most detested of all beings, is kept alive in our minds by a plethora of places, plants and sayings
which include reference to him. In the world of weeds there is a disproportionately high number of satanic allusions. Even if we exclude
his other names (Naughty Man, Bad Man, Satan, Evil One, Lucifer) the list of Devil's this and Devil's that is lengthy. A
few such weeds include: Devil's Bit (Orange Hawkweed), Devil's Candlesticks (Ground Ivy), Devil's Cherries (Deadly Nightshade), Devil's Daisy
(Oxeye Daisy), Devil's Fingers (Bird's-foot Trefoil), Devil's Garters (Corn Bindweed), Devil's Grass (Quackgrass), Devil's Guts
(Corn Bindweed; Corn Spurry, Horsetail), Devil's Head (Butter and Eggs), Devil's Milk (Petty Spurge), Devil's Nettle (Yarrow),
Devil's Paintbrush (Orange Hawkweed), Devil's Plague (Queen Anne's Lace), Devil's Tether (Black Bindweed), Devil's Tobacco
(Burdock), and Devil's Vine (Seattle's Wild Morning-Glory). |
| And what else, Devil's Shoestring. Excellent name, combining colorfully both the noxious yet petty aspects of a wiry little
pest. You probably have walked on this weed often, and yanked it from your garden. You may call it by another name. Books list it
as Creeping Knotweed, Prostrate Knotweed, Knotgrass, Wiregrass, Wireweed, Crabweed, Matgrass, Ninety Knot, and Bird's Tongue. |
| It grows as an annual that usually stays flattish, as a low groundcover, springing out of sidewalk cracks and gutters. By this
time of year powdery mildew often discolors its otherwise dull green leaves. Frost kills it. Seedlings sprout in spring. |
| Each leaf sits close by the wiry stem, above a sort of distinctive wax-papery sheath. Flowers the size of pin-heads,
greenish-white or pink-tinged, go unnoticed, three of them by each leaf, and ripen seeds that in size, color and shape remind me of fleas. They make the same satisfying
crunch between finger nails, too. |
| The whole plant is usually low and dirty, but in rich soil, where it is not trampled, it can luxuriate. The lack of flavor makes it
not worth eating. |
Other prostrate little weeds that might be mistaken for Devil's Shoestring are less common, and have features such as
milky juice, showy flowers, fuzz or hairs to distinguish them from it. Many also grow in drier, more gravelly soil. Devil's Shoestring
likes the moist, even muddy, dirt by path edges and roadsides.
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Originally published as the Seattle Tilth newsletter Weed of the Month in October 1993, along with an illustration from a book.
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