halberdleaf tearthumb, Persicaria arifolia

Halberdleaf tearthumb is a member of the buckwheat family. I guess that family has gotten about as much attention here as buckwheat gets at breakfast these days. So many in the family are a lot like this one, with small flowers that don't much catch your eye. The only two times this has caught my eye and lens were in 1976, then again when I went back to that spot to take this shot forty years later. Halberdleaf is a tearthumb because of the sharp little backward-pointing bristles hidden among the hairs on its stems. They catch your thumbs or anything else they touch. They're not strong enough to do much damage. This grows in damp spots in CT, DE, GA, IL(E), IN, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN(T), VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, NB, NS, ON, PE, and QC. Jackson Co MI, 9/15/16. Buckwheat family, Polygonaceae.