European regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)
EU 27 regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)

This species is classified as Least Concern due to its widespread distribution, stable populations and no major threats. It survives in a wide variety of habitats and is considered a weed in parts of its range.

Polygonum aviculare is native throughout Europe but in the extreme north it is replaced by Polygonum boreale (Blamey and Grey-Wilson 2003). It is a widely naturalised weed through cultivation (USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2012).

This species is very common throughout Europe (Blamey and Grey-Wilson 2003, Heukels 2000).

This species is a common annual weed which emerges during a restricted period only and is found on arable land (Courtney 1968). It is found on cultivated and open disturbed places, gardens, bare ground, roadsides, footpaths, walls, open grassland and seashores on dry or moist, sandy, loamy or stony soils (Blamey and Grey-Wilson 2003, Heukels 2000).

There are no known threats to this species.

This species is known to have excellent antioxidant effects which is related to its high phenolic content and can be potentially effective for the treatment of diseases caused by the over-production of free radicals, such as Alzheimer's disease, cancer, coronary heart disease and Parkinson's disease (Hsu 2006). The whole plant has been used as an antipyretic, antiparasitic and diuretic agent (Kim et al. 1994).

The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked or prepared as a tea. The seeds are edible as well and in their use similar to buckwheat. Blue, yellow and green dies can be produced from the plant (Plants For A Future 2012).

There are no conservation measures in place or needed. This species is considered Least Concern in the national red list of Belgium (Van Landuyt et al. 2006), Estonia (eBiodiversity Estonia 2012), Luxembourg (Colling 2005), Norway (Artsdatabanken 2010), Switzerland (Moser et al. 2002) and the United Kingdom (Cheffings and Farrell 2005).

In Bulgaria this species is present in national parks and listed as species scarcely spread, in single populations with small areas and limited resources of no economic importance (Evstatieva and Hardalova 2004).