Persicaria punctata |
Persicaria bicornis |
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dotted knotweed, dotted smartweed, renouée ponctuée, water smartweed |
pink smartweed |
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Habit | Plants annual or perennial, 1.5–12 dm; roots also often arising from proximal nodes; rhizomes often present. | Plants annual, 2–18 dm; roots also rarely arising from basal nodes; rhizomes and stolons absent. |
Stems | ascending to erect, branched, without noticeable ribs, glabrous, glandular-punctate. |
ascending to erect, rarely decumbent, branched, ribbed, glabrous or appressed-pubescent to spreading-pubescent distally, stipitate-glandular or, rarely, without stipitate-glands. |
Leaves | ocrea brown, cylindric, (4–)9–18 mm, chartaceous, base inflated, margins truncate, ciliate with bristles 2–11 mm, surface glabrous or strigose, glandular-punctate; petiole 0.1–1 cm, glandular-punctate, leaves sometimes sessile; blade without dark triangular or lunate blotch adaxially, lanceolate to lanceolate-ovate or subrhombic, 4–10(–15) × 0.6–2.4 cm, base tapered or cuneate, margins antrorsely strigose, apex acute to acuminate, faces glabrous or scabrous along midveins, glandular-punctate. |
ocrea brownish, cylindric, 6–20 mm, chartaceous, base inflated, margins truncate, eciliate or ciliate with bristles to 1 mm, surface glabrous or scabrous proximally, eglandular; petiole 0.1–1.5(–2.3) cm, glabrous or appressed-pubescent; blade sometimes with dark triangular or lunate blotch adaxially, linear-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 2.3–13(–18) × (0.4–)1–2.3 cm, base tapered to cuneate, margins antrorsely scabrous, apex acute to acuminate, faces glabrous or appressed-pubescent along midveins, glandular-punctate abaxially. |
Inflorescences | mostly terminal, sometimes also axillary, erect, interrupted, 50–200 × 4–8 mm; peduncle 30–60 mm, glabrous, glandular-punctate; ocreolae mostly not overlapping, margins mostly ciliate with bristles to 2 mm. |
terminal and axillary, erect, uninterrupted, 8–60 × 10–18 mm; peduncle 8–60(–70) mm, glabrous or pubescent, usually stipitate-glandular; ocreolae overlapping, margins eciliate or ciliate with bristles to 0.8 mm. |
Pedicels | ascending, 1–4 mm. |
ascending, 1.5–5 mm. |
Flowers | 2–6 per ocreate fascicle, homostylous; perianth greenish proximally, white distally, rarely tinged pink, glandular-punctate with punctae ± uniformly distributed, scarcely accrescent; tepals 5, connate ca. 1/3 their length, obovate, 3–3.5 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. |
2–11 per ocreate fascicle, heterostylous; perianth pink, glabrous, not glandular-punctate, accrescent; tepals 5, connate ca. 1/4–1/3 their length, obovate to elliptic, 3–4.6 mm, veins prominent, not anchor-shaped, margins entire, apex obtuse to rounded; stamens 6–8, included or exserted; anthers pink or red, elliptic; styles 2(–3), included or exserted, connate at bases. |
Achenes | included or apex exserted, brownish black, usually 3-gonous, rarely biconvex, (1.8–)2.2–3.2 × 1.5–2.2 mm, shiny, smooth. |
included or apex exserted, brownish black to black, discoid or, rarely, 3-gonous, 1 side usually slightly concave and other with central hump, (2–)2.2–2.9 × 2–2.8(–3) mm, shiny, smooth. |
2n | = 44. |
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Persicaria punctata |
Persicaria bicornis |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Nov. | Flowering Jun–Oct. |
Habitat | Shallow water, shores, marshes, floodplain forests | Moist, disturbed places, permanent and ephemeral wetlands, ditches, cultivated fields, shorelines of ponds and reservoirs |
Elevation | 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft) | 50-1600 m (200-5200 ft) |
Distribution |
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; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; HI; BC; MB; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; Mexico; West Indies (Puerto Rico); Central America (Guatemala); South America (Brazil)
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AR; CO; IA; IL; KS; LA; MO; NE; NM; OK; SD; TX; WY
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Discussion | N. C. Fassett (1949) proposed a complicated classification for Persicaria punctata with 12 varieties in North America and South America. He also identified numerous specimens that he considered to be morphologically intermediate between various varieties. M. Dalci (1972) documented a wide range of phenotypic and genotypic variation throughout the range of P. punctata and extensive overlap in many of the features used by Fassett to distinguish varieties. Consequently, recognition of varieties does not seem warranted. Persicaria punctata and its close relatives P. robustior and P. glabra are unique among native North American smartweeds in possessing complex glands called valvate chambers in their epidermises. Persicaria punctata is confused most frequently with P. hydropiper; the achenes are diagnostic. The Chippewa, Houma, and Iroquois prepared decoctions from leaves, flowers, and roots for use as analgesics as well as gastrointestinal, orthopedic, and psychological aids (D. E. Moerman 1998). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Persicaria bicornis is a characteristic smartweed of permanent and ephemeral wetlands and moist, disturbed sites in the Great Plains. It often has been included in P. pensylvanica but can be distinguished readily by its heterostylous flowers. The achenes, which usually bear an obscure or prominent hump in the center of one face, also are diagnostic. This hump often ruptures the side of the perianth on fruiting herbarium specimens. Persicaria bicornis also has leaf blades that are on average narrower than are those of P. pensylvanica, and populations exhibit less variation in perianth color. As in P. pensylvanica, flowers with three styles and trigonous achenes are produced very rarely. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 586. | FNA vol. 5, p. 589. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Persicaria > sect. Persicaria | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Persicaria > sect. Persicaria |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Polygonum punctatum, Polygonum acre var. leptostachyum, Polygonum punctatum var. confertiflorum, Polygonum punctatum var. ellipticum, Polygonum punctatum var. leptostachyum, Polygonum punctatum var. parviflorum, Polygonum punctatum var. parvum | Polygonum bicorne, P. longistyla, Polygonum longistylum |
Name authority | (Elliott) Small: Fl. S.E. U.S., 379. (1903) | (Rafinesque) Nieuwland: Amer. Midl. Naturalist 3: 201. (1914) |
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