| Author | (L.) Meisner | |
| Distribution | Northern outer Coastal Plain only (Gates County). A single collection site from 1959: "sandy roadside, Wyanoke, SSW of Va. 189 bridge over Blackwater River." Discovered by Horton and Ahles. This site is apparently on the Chowan Sand Ridge landform. Recent searches had turned up nothing, but in October 2023 it was rediscovered in the same area by Zach Bradford of the VA NHP; specimens at NCU (448037, 448038).
Mostly maritime and Great Lakes dune systems, but also inland on bare sandy soil, ME and Que. to Ont. and MN, south to extreme northeastern NC, IN, IL, IA. Thus, the NC site is at the southeastern edge of the range. | |
| Abundance | Considered SH (Historical) for a number of years, but as a moderate population was re-discovered in fall 2023, the editors have now assigned a suggested rank of S1. Nonetheless, the current State Status is Special Concern - Historical, which should be changed to Special Concern - Vulnerable in the near future (if not to another endangered status). | |
| Habitat | Sandy soil, the only known NC records on the Chowan Sand Banks in western Gates County. "Maritime dune grasslands, scrub, and woodlands; rarely in xeric sandhill woodlands and clearings inland" are habitats listed in the Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora website. |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting September-November. | |
| Identification | Coastal Jointweed grows only 1.5 feet or less, slender-stemmed, leaves linear to lance-shaped but often dropped by flowering time. The inflorescence is on erect or strongly ascending branches, unlike our other jointweeds. If not in bloom, the plants could be easily overlooked, being as "wispy" as it is, but in bloom a botanist is not likely to overlook or misidentify it. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | A few recent authors have noted the genetic similarity of Polygonella to Polygonum and have lumped the two. Because the two can be easily told apart in the field, taxon editors, including Weakley (2018), prefer to recognize both genera. As mentioned above, the NCNHP uses the name of Polygonum pinicola. | |
| Other Common Name(s) | Coast Jointweed, Sand Jointweed, Northern Jointweed, Northern Wireweed | |
| State Rank | SH [S1] | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | SC-H | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
