Flower:

Many-flowered racemes each up to 1½ inches long at the tips of branching stems. Flowers are about 1/8 inch across, with 5 spreading tepals (petals and similar sepals) that are all about the same size, white to pink, sometimes with a green or purplish midrib. In the center are 7 or 8 stamens surrounding a cone-shaped ovary with a 3-parted style at the tip. Flower stalks are slender, longer than the flower, jointed near the midpoint, ascending to spreading at flowering time, becoming nodding in fruit.

At the base of the flower stalk is a sheathing bract, giving the stem a jointed or segmented appearance. All flower parts are hairless.

Leaves and stems:

Leaves are alternate, erect to ascending, hairless, very narrow, up to ¾ inch long and about as wide as the stem, often dropping off early, sometimes persisting through flowering. Stems are erect, slender and wiry, hairless, often reddish brown in the lower plant, and usually much branched with erect to ascending branches.

Fruit:

The tepals persist in fruit, loosely wrapping the single seed and turning brown. Seeds are 3-sided, narrowly pyramidal, smooth and shiny cinnamon to reddish brown.

Notes:

Coast Jointweed, known in some references as Polygonum articulatum, reaches the western edge of its range in Minnesota. It's rather spindly looking when the leaves have all fallen off, but can have a profusion of white to pink blossoms that do make it stand out. It is easily identified by the “jointed” upper branches.