Persicaria hydropiperoides explained

Persicaria hydropiperoides, commonly called swamp smartweed, mild waterpepper, false waterpepper,^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} or sometimes simply waterpepper,^[5] is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family. It has a widespread distribution across much of North America and South America.^{[6] [7] [8] [9] [10]} Its preferred habitat is in moist, saturated to inundated soils growing in full sun to partial shade; such as swamp forests, marshes, streams, shorelines, and ditches. It is sometimes semi-aquatic.

Swamp smartweed is quite variable and is sometimes divided into several varieties, some of which may be better treated as species in their own right.^[11]

In general, swamp smartweed is a rhizomatous perennial herb growing upright or erect and approaching a maximum height of one meter (40 inches). Roots may emerge from nodes on the lower stem. The bristly lance-shaped leaves are around 10 centimeters (4 inches) long. The leaves have sheathing stipules known as ochreae. The spike-like inflorescence produces many pinkish flowers each about 3 millimeters wide.^[11]

Swamp smartweed is reported to be edible, as are all species in the genus Persicaria.^[12] Although its close relatives Persicaria hydropiper and Persicaria punctata are known to possess a hot or pungent quality when consumed, swamp smartweed is said to lack the same pungency by at least one author.

External links

• Jepson Manual Treatment
• Missouri Plants Photo Profile
• Calphotos Photo gallery, University of California
• photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected in Peru in 2012

Notes and References

1. Web site: Persicaria hydropiperoides - Species Page - APA: Alabama Plant Atlas . 2024-08-29 . floraofalabama.org.
2. Web site: Persicaria hydropiperoides (Mild Waterpepper): Minnesota Wildflowers . 2024-08-29 . www.minnesotawildflowers.info . en.
3. Web site: 2024-08-29 . Swamp Smartweed (Persicaria hydropiperoides) . 2024-08-29 . The National Gardening Association Plants Database.
4. Web site: Mild Waterpepper (Persicaria hydropiperoides) . 2024-08-29 . www.illinoiswildflowers.info.
5. Web site: Persicaria hydropiperoides (Waterpepper) - FSUS . 2024-08-29 . fsus.ncbg.unc.edu.
6. http://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Persicaria%20hydropiperoides.png Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
7. Jørgensen, P. M., M. H. Nee & S. G. Beck. (eds.) 2014. Catálogo de las plantas vasculares de Bolivia, Monographs in systematic botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 127(1–2): i–viii, 1–1744
8. Marticorena, C. & M. Quezada. 1985. Catálogo de la Flora Vascular de Chile. Gayana, Botánica 42: 1–157.
9. Porter, D. M. 1983. Vascular plants of the Galapagos: Origins and dispersal. 33–54. In M. B. R. I. Bowman & A. E. Leviton Patterns of Evolution in Galapagos Organisms. Pacific Division, AAAS, San Francisco
10. Cowan, C. P. 1983. Flora de Tabasco. Listados Florísticos de México 1: 1–123.
11. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250037826 Flora of North America, (Michaux) Small, 1903. Swamp smartweed, renouée faux-poivre-d'eau
12. Book: Thayer, Samuel . Sam Thayer's field guide to edible wild plants of eastern & central North America . 2023 . Forager's Harvest . 978-0-9766266-4-0 . Weyerhaeuser, WI . 583–585 . en . on1370911493.