Persicaria hydropiperoides |
Persicaria sagittata |
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false water pepper, false water-pepper smartweed, mild waterpepper, renouée faux-poivre-d'eau, swamp smartweed, water-pepper |
arrow-leaf knotweed, arrow-leaf tearthumb, arrow-vine, renouée sagittée |
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Habit | Plants perennial, 1.5–10 dm; roots also often arising from proximal nodes; rhizomes often present. | Plants annual, 3–20 dm; roots also often arising from proximal nodes. |
Stems | decumbent to ascending, usually branched, without noticeable ribs, glabrous or obscurely strigose distally. |
scandent, ribbed, glabrous; prickles 1–1.5 mm. |
Leaves | ocrea brown, cylindric, 5–23 mm, chartaceous, base inflated, margins truncate, ciliate with bristles (2–)4–10 mm, surface glabrous or strigose, not glandular-punctate; petiole 0.2–2 cm, glabrous or strigose; blade without dark triangular or lunate blotch adaxially, broadly lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 5–25 × 0.4–3.7 cm, base tapered or acute, margins antrorsely appressed-pubescent, apex acuminate, faces glabrous or appressed-pubescent along midveins and sometimes on faces, usually punctate abaxially. |
ocrea brownish, cylindric, (3–)5–13 mm, chartaceous, base inflated or not, without prickles, margins oblique, glabrous or ciliate at tip with bristles 0.2–1 mm, surface glabrous; petiole 0.5–4 cm; blade broadly lanceolate to oblong, 2–8.5 × 1–3 cm, base sagittate to cordate, margins entire, ciliate or eciliate, apex obtuse to acute, faces glabrous or densely appressed-pubescent, usually with retrorse prickles along midvein abaxially. |
Inflorescences | terminal, sometimes also axillary, erect, uninterrupted or interrupted proximally, 30–80 × 2–5 mm; peduncle 10–30 mm, glabrous or strigose; ocreolae overlapping distally, often not overlapping proximally, margins ciliate with bristles to 2(–3) mm. |
capitate or paniclelike, uninterrupted, 5–15 × 4–10 mm; peduncle 10–80 mm, usually glabrous, sometimes with retrorse prickles proximally; ocreolae overlapping, margins eciliate. |
Pedicels | ascending, 1–1.5 mm. |
mostly ascending, 1–1.5 mm. |
Flowers | bisexual or unisexual and staminate, 2–6 per ocreate fascicle, homostylous; perianth roseate proximally, roseate, white, or greenish white distally, not glandular-punctate or sometimes glandular-punctate with punctae on tubes and inner tepals, scarcely accrescent; tepals 5, connate ca. 1/3–1/2 their length, obovate, 2.5–4 mm in bisexual flowers, 1.5–2.5 mm in staminate flowers, veins prominent or not, not anchor-shaped, margins entire, apex obtuse to rounded; stamens 8, included or exserted in staminate flowers; anthers pink or red, elliptic to ovate; styles 3, connate near middle. |
2–3 per ocreate fascicle; perianth white or greenish white, often tinged pink or red, sometimes entirely pink, glabrous, accrescent, not becoming blue and fleshy in fruit; tepals 5, connate 1/3–1/2 their length, broadly elliptic, 3–5 mm, apex obtuse; stamens 8, filaments distinct, free; anthers pink, ovate; styles 3, connate to middle. |
Achenes | included or apex exserted, brown to brownish black or black, 3-gonous, 1.5–3 × 1–2.3 mm, shiny, smooth. |
included or styles exserted, light or dark brown to black, 3-gonous, 2.5–4 × 1.8–2.5 mm, dull to shiny, smooth to minutely punctate. |
2n | = 40. |
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Persicaria hydropiperoides |
Persicaria sagittata |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Nov. | Flowering Jun–Oct. |
Habitat | Wet banks and clearings, shallow water, marshes, moist prairies, ditches | Moist shaded sites, meadows, pastures, fens, swamps, shorelines of ponds and streams |
Elevation | 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft) | 0-1000 m (0-3300 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; AL; AR; AZ; CA; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; BC; NB; NS; ON; QC; Mexico; Central America; South America
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AL; AR; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; e Asia
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Discussion | The extreme variability in Persicaria hydropiperoides is reflected in its extensive synonymy. Among the segregates most often recognized in floras and checklists is P. opelousana, which C. B. McDonald (1980) showed to be broadly sympatric and highly interfertile with P. hydropiperoides. Consistent with this conclusion, R. S. Mitchell (1971) found that P. hydropiperoides and P. opelousana are unique among native North American smartweeds in consistently possessing multicellular plate-glands on the abaxial surface of their leaves. Such glands also are found on P. maculosa, an introduced European species. Herbarium specimens of Persicaria hydropiperoides sometimes are misidentified as P. maculosa, especially when the roots are missing. The former species may be distinguished reliably by its achenes all trigonous (trigonous and biconvex achenes are mixed in the inflorescences of P. maculosa) and bristles on the margins of the ocreae that average longer. M. L. Fernald (1922c) reported hybrids with P. robustior from Nova Scotia. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Persicaria sagittata is an extremely variable species. Achene and leaf characters have been used by some authors to separate North American and Asian populations, but these characters show weak geographic variation (C. W. Park 1988). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 585. | FNA vol. 5, p. 577. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Persicaria > sect. Persicaria | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Persicaria > sect. Echinocaulon |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Polygonum hydropiperoides, P. opelousana, P. paludicola, Polygonum hydropiperoides var. adenocalyx, Polygonum hydropiperoides var. asperifolium, Polygonum hydropiperoides var. breviciliatum, Polygonum hydropiperoides var. bushianum, Polygonum hydropiperoides var. digitatum, Polygonum hydropiperoides var. opelousanum, Polygonum hydropiperoides var. psilostachyum, Polygonum opelousanum, Polygonum opelousanum var. adenocalyx | Polygonum sagittatum, Polygonum sagittatum var. gracilentum, Tracaulon sagittatum, Truellum sagittatum |
Name authority | (Michaux) Small: Fl. S.E. U.S., 378. (1903) | (Linnaeus) H. Gross: Beih. Bot. Centralbl. 37(2): 113. (1919) |
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