Denseflower Knotweed/ Persicaria glabra in Kaas Plateau

Denseflower Knotweed/ Persicaria glabra or commonly known as Common marsh buckwheat is an annual or perennial herbs with red, ascending, swollen stems, often rooting at the nodes, 5-15 cm long, not hairy. Leaves are oblong-lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, 14-28 cm long, 3-6 cm wide, minutely pustulate, otherwise usually smooth, sometimes with scattered hairs on nerves of lower surface, leaf stalk 0.5-2 cm long, ocreae tubular, usually 20-30 mm long, apex not ciliate, sometimes with a few small bristles ca. 0.5 mm long. Flowers in open racemes, sometimes in paniculate inflorescences 5-10 cm long, each flower on a jointed pedicel; tepals white or pinkish, 3-4 mm long, sometimes sparsely so, glandular punctate. Nuts dark brown to nearly back, broadly ovoid, biconvex or subtrigonous, 2-2.5 mm long, the surface glossy. Persicaria is a genus of plants in the family Polygonaceae, collectively known as smartweeds or pinkweeds. The genus was formerly included in the genus Polygonum. The genus includes both annuals and perennials. Most have terminal spikes of pink or sometimes white flowers. Most members of the genus are aggressive and/or invasive weeds, though some have been used as cover crops in the field and ornamental plants in the garden.

Kas/Kaas Plateau is a lateritic soil plateau on the ridge of North Western Ghats of India located to the west of Satara, Maharashtra. Kas plateau has only a shallow upper layer soil in scattered depressions and composed of exposed porous soft rock. The plateau is filled with small rivulets and ponds. The origin of its name 'Kaas' is still unclear yet this was once home to 'kaasa' plants Elaeocarpus. Probably the place got its name from the 'Kaasa' plant. Kas Plateau is recently recognised by UNESCO as a world natural heritage site. The flora on Kas plateau consists of herbaceous plants many of them being ephemerals dotted with clumps of shrubs, memecylon being the dominant species. The floral extravaganza at Kas begins with the advent of North West monsoon. The spectacle of Kas flowers has been unfolding each year after surviving through annual grazing and burning, yet Kas is threatened by the insurgence of thousands of visitors thronging the plateau on peak flowering days. Satara is a city located in the Satara District of Maharashtra state of India. The town is 2320 ft. above sea-level, near the confluence of the Krishna and its tributary river Venna. The city was the capital of the Maratha empire in the 17th century, hence one of the historical cities of Maharashtra. This city is the capital of Satara Tehsil, as well as Satara District.

Source: Wikipedia & www.flowersofindia.net

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