Persicaria sagittata |
Persicaria hydropiper |
|
---|---|---|
arrow-leaf knotweed, arrow-leaf tearthumb, arrow-vine, renouée sagittée |
common smartweed, marsh-pepper smartweed, marshpepper knotweed, mild water-pepper, renouée poivre-d'eau, smartweed, water-pepper, water-pepper smartweed |
|
Habit | Plants annual, 3–20 dm; roots also often arising from proximal nodes. | Plants annual, 2–8(–10) dm; roots also often arising from proximal nodes; rhizomes and stolons absent. |
Stems | scandent, ribbed, glabrous; prickles 1–1.5 mm. |
decumbent to ascending or erect, branched, without noticeable ribs, glabrous, glandular-punctate. |
Leaves | 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. |
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. |
Inflorescences | capitate or paniclelike, uninterrupted, 5–15 × 4–10 mm; peduncle 10–80 mm, usually glabrous, sometimes with retrorse prickles proximally; ocreolae overlapping, margins eciliate. |
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. |
Pedicels | mostly ascending, 1–1.5 mm. |
ascending, 1–3 mm. |
Flowers | 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. |
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. |
Achenes | 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. |
included or apex exserted, brownish black, biconvex or 3-gonous, 1.9–3 × 1.5–2 mm, dull, minutely roughened. |
2n | = 40. |
= 20. |
Persicaria sagittata |
Persicaria hydropiper |
|
Phenology | Flowering Jun–Oct. | Flowering May–Nov. |
Habitat | Moist shaded sites, meadows, pastures, fens, swamps, shorelines of ponds and streams | Shorelines of lake and ponds, banks of streams and rivers, fens, forested wetlands, pastures, occasionally waste ground |
Elevation | 0-1000 m (0-3300 ft) | 0-1500 m (0-4900 ft) |
Distribution |
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
|
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]
|
Discussion | 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.) |
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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 5, p. 577. | FNA vol. 5, p. 590. |
Parent taxa | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Persicaria > sect. Echinocaulon | Polygonaceae > subfam. Polygonoideae > Persicaria > sect. Persicaria |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Polygonum sagittatum, Polygonum sagittatum var. gracilentum, Tracaulon sagittatum, Truellum sagittatum | Polygonum hydropiper, Polygonum hydropiper var. projectum |
Name authority | (Linnaeus) H. Gross: Beih. Bot. Centralbl. 37(2): 113. (1919) | (Linnaeus) Spach: Hist. Nat. Vég. 10: 536. (1841) |
Web links |
|
|