Persicaria capitata |
Persicaria maculosa |
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Himalayan smartweed, Japanese knotweed, pink bubble persicaria, pink-head knotweed, pink-head persicaria, pinkhead smartweed |
heartweed, lady's-thumb, lady's-thumb smartweed, redshank, renouée persicaire, spotted lady's-thumb |
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Habit | Plants annual or perennial, 0.5–5 dm; roots also often arising from proximal nodes. | Plants annual, (0.5–)1–7(–13) dm; roots also often arising from proximal nodes; rhizomes and stolons absent. |
Stems | prostrate, glabrous or glandular-pubescent. |
procumbent, decumbent, ascending, or erect, simple or branched, without obvious ribs, glabrous or appressed-pubescent. |
Leaves | ocrea brown or reddish brown, cylindric to funnelform, 5–12 mm, chartaceous, base inflated or not, margins oblique, eciliate or ciliate with bristles to 1.5 mm, surface lanate, sometimes also glandular-pubescent; petiole 2–5 mm, winged distally; blade ovate to elliptic, 1.5–4(–6) × 0.6–2.5(–3.3) cm, base cuneate or tapering, margins ciliate with reddish, multicellular hairs, apex acute, faces glandular-pubescent abaxially and adaxially, not glandular-punctate. |
ocrea light brown, cylindric, 4–10(–15) mm, chartaceous, base inflated, margins truncate, ciliate with hairs 1–3.5(–5) mm, surface glabrous or strigose, rarely with spreading hairs, not glandular-punctate; petiole 0.1–0.8 cm, glabrous or strigose, leaves sometimes sessile; blade often with dark triangular or lunate blotch adaxially, lanceolate to narrowly ovate, (1–)5–10(–18) × (0.2–)1–2.5(–4) cm, base tapered or cuneate, margins antrorsely strigose, apex acute to acuminate, faces glabrous or strigose, especially along midveins, sometimes glandular-punctate abaxially. |
Inflorescences | terminal, 5–20 × 7-18 mm; peduncle 10–40 mm, glabrous or stipitate-glandular in distal 1/5; ocreolae overlapping, margins eciliate. |
terminal and axillary, erect, usually uninterrupted, 10–45(–60) × 7–12 mm; peduncle 10–50 mm, glabrous or, rarely, pubescent; ocreolae overlapping or sometimes interrupted proximally, margins ciliate with bristles 0.2–1.3(–2) mm. |
Pedicels | spreading, 0.5–1 mm. |
ascending, 1–2.5 mm. |
Flowers | 1–5 per ocreate fascicle; perianth greenish white proximally, pinkish distally, urceolate, glabrous, nonaccrescent; tepals 5, elliptic, 2–3 mm, apex acute to obtuse; stamens 8, filaments distinct, free; anthers pink to red, elliptic; styles 3, connate to middle or distally. |
4–14 per ocreate fascicle, homostylous; perianth greenish white proximally and roseate distally or entirely roseate, not glandular-punctate, scarcely accrescent; tepals 4–5, connate ca. 1/3 their length, obovate, 2–3.5 mm, veins prominent, not anchor-shaped, margins entire, apex obtuse to rounded; stamens 4–8, included; anthers yellow or pink, ovate; styles 2–3, connate proximally. |
Achenes | included, reddish brown to brownish black, 3-gonous, 1.5–2.2 × 1–1.5 mm, shiny, smooth or minutely punctate. |
included or apex exserted, brownish black to black, discoid or biconvex to 3-gonous, (1.9–)2–2.7 × (1.5–) 1.8–2.2 mm, shiny, smooth. |
2n | = 44. |
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Persicaria capitata |
Persicaria maculosa |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Sep. | Flowering Mar–Nov. |
Habitat | Disturbed, urban places | Weedy, moist semiwaste to cultivated areas |
Elevation | 0-500 m (0-1600 ft) | 0-2500 m (0-8200 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; LA; OR; Asia (Bhutan, w China, n India, Nepal) [Introduced in North America; introduced also in the Pacific Islands (Hawaii)]
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AK; AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; SPM; Africa; Greenland; Eurasia; Pacific Islands (New Zealand) [Introduced in North America]
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Discussion | Persicaria capitata is planted as a garden groundcover. It escapes infrequently in the flora area; once established outside of cultivation it can be difficult to eradicate. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
An allozyme study by L. L. Consaul et al. (1991) provided evidence of the allotetraploid origin of Persicaria maculosa, with P. lapathifolium as one of the parents. Plants with stems spreading-hairy and peduncles stipitate-glandular have been named P. maculosa subsp. hirsuticaulis (Danser) S. Ekman & Knutsson. Material referable to this subspecies has not been seen among North American specimens. Hybrids between P. maculosa and P. minor have been documented in Europe (R. H. Roberts 1977). The Cherokee, Chippewa, and Iroquois prepared simple or compound decoctions of Persicaria maculosa, which they used as dermatological, urinary, gastrointestinal, and veterinary aids, for heart medicine, and as an analgesic (D. E. Moerman 1998). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 579. | FNA vol. 5, p. 593. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Persicaria > sect. Cephalophilon | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Persicaria > sect. Persicaria |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Polygonum capitatum | Polygonum persicaria, P. fusiformis, P. vulgaris, Polygonum fusiforme, Polygonum persicaria var. ruderale, Polygonum puritanorum |
Name authority | (Buchanan-Hamilton ex D. Don) H. Gross: Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 49: 277. (1913) | Gray: Nat. Arr. Brit. Pl. 2: 269. (1822) |
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