E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

General:
Annual (occasionally perennial) herb from fibrous root; stems ascending to erect, several, simple to branched, tending to root at the nodes, more or less finely pitted or gland-dotted, peppery-tasting, 20-100 cm tall.

Leaves:
Basal leaves lacking; stem leaves alternate, lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, sparsely hairy to smooth, the blades 3-7 cm long, somewhat reduced upward, the stalks short; stipules oblique, up to 15 mm long, usually sparsely hairy and fringed with bristly hairs at the top.

Flowers:
Inflorescence of axillary and terminal, spikelike, scarcely interrupted, drooping racemes, 2-7 cm long; perianths 2.5-4 mm long, glandular-dotted, greenish with white (pink) margins, usually 4-lobed about 2/3 the distance to the base; stamens usually six.

Fruits:
Achenes, lens-shaped or 3-angled, brown, finely glandular-dotted, dull, 2.5-3 mm long.

Notes:
Closely related to P. punctatum.