This plant is more or less erect, branching occasionally and often bending toward the light in partially shaded locations.
Leaves have few or no hairs, upper stems and flower stems with usually red glands; stipules at base of the leaves cylindric without hairs; calyx (sepals) bright pink; inflorescences erect, in leaf axils and terminal, flower bracts reduced to sheaths.
Habitat
Moist, disturbed places, ditches, riverbanks, cultivated fields, shorelines of ponds and reservoirs.
Flower Characteristics
Dense, erect, spike-like clusters of small, bright pink flowers are borne on sticky-haired stalks.
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Leaves have membranous sheaths at the bases of the leaf stalks that surround the stems. Smooth round stems are light green to red and relatively stout; they have a tendency to zigzag between the alternate leaves.
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Fruits are round in outline, generally nearly flat on 1 side, indented on other, dark brown and shiny.