Persicaria hydropiper |
Persicaria minor |
|
---|---|---|
common smartweed, marsh-pepper smartweed, marshpepper knotweed, mild water-pepper, renouée poivre-d'eau, smartweed, water-pepper, water-pepper smartweed |
Asian knotweed, petite renouée, pygmy smartweed, small smartweed, small water-pepper |
|
Habit | Plants annual, 2–8(–10) dm; roots also often arising from proximal nodes; rhizomes and stolons absent. | Plants annual, 0.5–3(–4) dm; roots also sometimes at from proximal nodes; rhizomes and stolons absent. |
Stems | decumbent to ascending or erect, branched, without noticeable ribs, glabrous, glandular-punctate. |
decumbent or ascending, branched proximally, scarcely ribbed, glabrous or scabrous distally. |
Leaves | ocrea brown, cylindric or funnelform, (8–)10–15 mm, chartaceous, base inflated, margins truncate, ciliate with bristles 1–4 mm, surface glabrous or strigose, usually glandular-punctate; petiole 0.1–0.8 cm, glandular-punctate, leaves sometimes sessile; blade without dark triangular or lunate blotch adaxially, lanceolate to narrowly rhombic, (1.5–)4–10(–15) × 0.4–2.5 cm, base tapered or cuneate, margins antrorsely strigose, apex acute to acuminate, faces glabrous or scabrous along midveins, glandular-punctate, sometimes obscurely so adaxially. |
ocrea brownish, cylindric, 3–10 mm, chartaceous, base not inflated, margins truncate, ciliate with bristles (0.3–)1–3(–5) mm, surface glabrous or strigose, not glandular-punctate; petiole 0.1–0.2 cm, glabrous or strigose, leaves sometimes sessile; blade without dark triangular or lunate blotch adaxially, linear to linear-lanceolate, (1–)2–7.5(–10) × (0.2–)0.4–1(–2.3) cm, base tapered to cuneate, margins antrorsely scabrous, apex acute to acuminate, faces glabrous or sparingly strigose, especially along midveins, not glandular-punctate. |
Inflorescences | terminal and axillary, erect or nodding, interrupted or uninterrupted distally, 30–180 × 5–9 mm; peduncle (0–)10–50 mm, sometimes absent on axillary inflorescences and flowers thus enclosed in ocreae, glabrous, glandular-punctate; ocreolae not overlapping or overlapping distally, margins eciliate or ciliate with bristles to 1 mm. |
terminal and axillary, ascending to erect, usually interrupted proximally, uninterrupted distally, 10–50 × 2–4 mm; peduncle (0–)2–25 mm, sometimes absent on axillary inflorescences and flowers thus enclosed in ocreae, glabrous; ocreolae not overlapping proximally, usually overlapping distally, margins ciliate with bristles (0.1–)0.6–2(–2.7) mm. |
Pedicels | ascending, 1–3 mm. |
ascending, 0.5–1 mm. |
Flowers | 1–3(–5) per ocreate fascicle, homostylous; perianth greenish proximally, white or pink distally, glandular-punctate with punctae ± uniformly distributed, scarcely accrescent; tepals 4–5, connate ca. 1/3 their length, petaloid, obovate, 2–3.5 mm, veins prominent or not, not anchor-shaped, margins entire, apex obtuse to rounded; stamens 6–8, included; anthers pink or red, elliptic to ovate; styles 2–3, connate proximally. |
1–3(–4) per ocreate fascicle, homostylous; perianth roseate to red, rarely white, glabrous, not glandular-punctate, scarcely accrescent; tepals 5, connate ca. 1/3 their length, obovate to elliptic, 2.5–3 mm, veins not prominent, not anchor-shaped, margins entire, apex obtuse to rounded; stamens 5(–6), included; anthers yellow to pink, elliptic; styles 2(–3), connate at bases. |
Achenes | included or apex exserted, brownish black, biconvex or 3-gonous, 1.9–3 × 1.5–2 mm, dull, minutely roughened. |
included, brownish black to black, biconvex or, rarely, 3-gonous, (1.5–)1.8–2.3(– 2.7) × (1.1–)1.3–1.5(–1.8) mm, shiny, smooth. |
2n | = 20. |
|
Persicaria hydropiper |
Persicaria minor |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Nov. | Flowering Jul–Oct. |
Habitat | Shorelines of lake and ponds, banks of streams and rivers, fens, forested wetlands, pastures, occasionally waste ground | Damp, open places |
Elevation | 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft) | 0-100 m (0-300 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; AL; AR; 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; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SPM; Europe; nw Africa; Pacific Islands (Hawaii, New Zealand); Australia [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Asia]
|
CT; IN; LA; MA; NE; PA; VA; VT; NB; ON; QC; Europe [Introduced in North America]
|
Discussion | All parts of Persicaria hydropiper have an acrid, pepperlike taste. The plants have a long history of medicinal use in Europe, and the oily exudate produced in multicellular glands can cause skin irritation, hence the common name smartweed (R. S. Mitchell and J. K. Dean 1978). Some Native American tribes used P. hydropiper as a drug to treat a variety of ailments, and the Cherokee and Iroquois consumed it as food (D. E. Moerman 1998). Herbarium specimens of Persicaria hydropiper often are misidentified as P. punctata. In addition to its minutely roughened and dull achenes, P. hydropiper differs from P. punctata frequently in bearing flowers enclosed in the ocreae, the inflorescences thus appearing somewhat leafy. By contrast, inflorescences of P. punctata generally appear terminal and leafless. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Persicaria minor is synonymized with P. maculosa in most North American floras; its distribution in the flora area is poorly known. Hybrids between P. minor and P. maculosa have been documented in Europe (R. H. Roberts 1977). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 590. | FNA vol. 5, p. 593. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Persicaria > sect. Persicaria | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Persicaria > sect. Persicaria |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Polygonum hydropiper, Polygonum hydropiper var. projectum | Polygonum minus, Polygonum minus var. subcontinuum |
Name authority | (Linnaeus) Spach: Hist. Nat. Vég. 10: 536. (1841) | (Hudson) Opiz: Seznam, 72. (1852) |
Web links |
|