Persicaria amphibia

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Persicaria amphibia
Persicaria amphibia-01 (xndr).jpg
Polygonum-coccineum.jpg
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Polygonaceae
Genus: Persicaria
Species:
P. amphibia
Binomial name
Persicaria amphibia
(L.) Gray
Synonyms
Synonymy
  • Polygonum amphibiumL.
  • Chulusium amphibium(L.) Raf.
  • Chulusium fluitansRaf.
  • Chulusium natansRaf.
  • Persicaria amurensis(Korsh.) Nieuwl.
  • Persicaria coccinea(Muhl. ex Willd.) Greene
  • Persicaria fluitansMontandon
  • Persicaria hartwrightii(A. Gray) Greene
  • Persicaria muhlenbergii(Meisn.) Small
  • Polygonum amphibiumL.
  • Polygonum coccineumMuhl. ex Willd.
  • Polygonum emersum(Michx.) Britton
  • Polygonum hartwrightiiA. Gray
  • Polygonum muhlenbergii(Meisn.) S. Watson
  • Polygonum natansEaton
  • Polygonum rigidulumE. Sheld.
  • Polygonum salicifoliumSchur 1866 not Brouss. ex Willd. 1809

Persicaria amphibia (syn. Polygonum amphibium) is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family known by several common names, including longroot smartweed, water knotweed, water smartweed, and amphibious bistort. It is native to much of North America, Asia, Europe, and parts of Africa, [2] and it grows elsewhere as an introduced species and sometimes a noxious weed.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Distribution and habitat

Persicaria amphibia is native to a large area across the northern hemisphere, including Europe, Asia, North America, and parts of Africa. It has been introduced elsewhere, such as South America and other parts of Africa. [3]

It grows in many types of wet habitat, such as ponds, streams, and marshes. It is a rhizomatous perennial herb which takes a variety of forms and is quite variable in morphology. It may be an aquatic plant, growing submerged or floating in water bodies, it may grow in muddy and wet areas which are periodically inundated, and it may grow in moist spots on land, such as in meadows.

Dry-land and fully aquatic plants are sometimes considered different named varieties of the species. [4]

Description

Persicaria amphibia produces a thick stem from its rhizome. The stem may creep, float, or grow erect, rooting at stem nodes that come in contact with moist substrate. Stems are known to reach 3 meters (10 feet) long in aquatic individuals. The stems are ribbed and may be hairless to quite hairy in texture. [4]

Leaves are lance-shaped or take various other shapes and are borne on petioles. They may be over 30 centimeters (1 foot) in length. The inflorescence is a dense terminal cluster of many five-lobed pink flowers. [4]

Plants may have bisexual or unisexual flowers, with some plants bearing only male or only female flowers. The fruit is a shiny brown rounded achene around 3 mm (0.12 in) long. [4]

Varieties

Three varieties are generally recognized, though some authorities consider P. a. var. emersa a distinct species, Persicaria coccinea. [5]

Uses

Various parts of this plant were used by several Native American groups as medicinal remedies and sometimes as food. [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Bistorta officinalis</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Polygonaceae

Bistorta officinalis, known as bistort, common bistort, European bistort or meadow bistort, is a species of flowering plant in the dock family Polygonaceae native to Europe and northern and western Asia. Other common names include snakeroot, snake-root, snakeweed and Easter-ledges.

<i>Persicaria</i> Genus of flowering plants in the knotweed family, Polygonaceae

Persicaria is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the knotweed family, Polygonaceae. Plants of the genus are known commonly as knotweeds or smartweeds. It has a cosmopolitan distribution, with species occurring nearly worldwide. The genus was segregated from Polygonum.

<i>Polygonum</i> Genus of flowering plants in the knotweed family Polygonaceae

Polygonum is a genus of about 130 species of flowering plants in the buckwheat and knotweed family Polygonaceae. Common names include knotweed and knotgrass. In the Middle English glossary of herbs Alphita, it was known as ars-smerte. There have been various opinions about how broadly the genus should be defined. For example, buckwheat has sometimes been included in the genus as Polygonum fagopyrum. Former genera such as Polygonella have been subsumed into Polygonum; other genera have been split off.

<i>Persicaria maculosa</i> Species of flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae

Persicaria maculosa is an annual plant in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. Common names include lady's thumb, spotted lady's thumb, Jesusplant, and redshank. It is widespread across Eurasia from Iceland south to Portugal and east to Japan. It is also present as an introduced and invasive species in North America, where it was first noted in the Great Lakes region in 1843 and has now spread through most of the continent.

<i>Bistorta vivipara</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Polygonaceae

Bistorta vivipara is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the knotweed and buckwheat family Polygonaceae, commonly known as alpine bistort. Scientific synonyms include Bistorta vivipara and Polygonum viviparum. It is common all over the high Arctic through Europe, North America, and temperate and tropical Asia. Its range stretches further south in high mountainous areas such as the Alps, Carpathians, Pyrenees, Caucasus, Alaska and the Tibetan Plateau.

<i>Persicaria pensylvanica</i> Species of plant

Persicaria pensylvanica is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. It is native to parts of North America, where it is widespread in Canada and the United States. It has also been noted as an introduced species in parts of Europe and South America. Common names include Pennsylvania smartweed and pinkweed.

<i>Persicaria lapathifolia</i> Species of plant

Persicaria lapathifolia, known as pale persicaria, is a plant of the family Polygonaceae. It is closely related to Persicaria maculosa and as such is considered a weed in Britain and Europe. Other common names for the plant include pale smartweed, curlytop knotweed, and willow weed. It is a species complex made up of a great many varying forms, sometimes considered varieties. The environment also has a strong influence on the morphology of an individual plant.

<i>Persicaria hydropiper</i> Species of plant

Persicaria hydropiper, also known as water pepper, marshpepper knotweed, arse smart or tade, is a plant of the family Polygonaceae. A widespread species, Persicaria hydropiper is found in Australia, New Zealand, temperate Asia, Europe and North America. The plant grows in damp places and shallow water. Cultivated varieties are eaten in East Asia for their pungent flavor.

<i>Bistorta affinis</i> Species of plant

Bistorta affinis, the Himalayan bistort, fleece flower, or knotweed, is a species of flowering plant in the family Polygonaceae, native to the Himalayas.

<i>Persicaria bicornis</i> Species of plant

Persicaria bicornis is a North American species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae). The common name is pink smartweed. It is native to the central and southwestern United States from northern Texas west to Arizona, east to Louisiana, and north as far as eastern Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois.

<i>Persicaria capitata</i> Species of plant

Persicaria capitata, the pink-headed persicaria, pinkhead smartweed, pink knotweed, Japanese knotweed, or pink bubble persicaria, is an Asian species of plants in the genus Persicaria within the buckwheat family. It is native to Asia and grown as an ornamental in other countries. It has become naturalized in Australia, South Africa and a few scattered locations in the United States.

Persicaria cespitosa, known as tufted knotweed, is a summer annual weedy plant of the family Polygonaceae, native to eastern Asia, from China to Japan and Southeast Asia, and introduced into North America. The plant grows to 3.5 feet (105 cm) in height with elliptic to lanceolate leaves, usually 20–75 mm long. It has small pink or red flowers arranged in tight terminal spikes.

<i>Persicaria chinensis</i> Species of plant

Persicaria chinensis, commonly known as creeping smartweed or Chinese knotweed, is a plant species from the family Polygonaceae. It is widespread across China, Japan, the Indian Subcontinent, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. It is a common plant in Malaysia and Vietnam, where it is used in herbal remedies, such as for the treatment of dysentery, enteritis, and sore throat. It is a weed in some coastal areas of New South Wales and Queensland in Australia.

<i>Persicaria punctata</i> Species of flowering plant

Persicaria punctata is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family known by the common names dotted smartweed and dotted knotweed.

<i>Scirpus ancistrochaetus</i> Species of grass-like plant

Scirpus ancistrochaetus is a rare species of flowering plant in the sedge family known by the common names barbedbristle bulrush and northeastern bulrush. It is native to the northeastern United States from New Hampshire south to Virginia. It used to be found in Quebec but it is now thought to be extirpated there. It was also believed extirpated from the state of New York, but at least one population has been rediscovered in Steuben County in 2010. It is threatened by the loss and degradation of its wetland habitat. It is a federally listed endangered species.

<i>Persicaria longiseta</i> Species of plant

Persicaria longiseta is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family known by the common names Oriental lady's thumb, bristly lady's thumb, Asiatic smartweed, long-bristled smartweed, low smartweed, Asiatic waterpepper, bristled knotweed, bunchy knotweed, and tufted knotweed. It is native to Asia, and it is present in North America and Europe as an introduced species and often a weed.

<i>Koenigia polystachya</i> Species of flowering plant

Koenigia polystachya is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family, known by the common names Himalayan knotweed and cultivated knotweed. It has several regularly used synonyms, including Polygonum polystachyum, Aconogonon polystachyum and Persicaria wallichii.

<i>Persicaria decipiens</i> Species of plant

Persicaria decipiens, commonly known as slender knotweed, is a species of flowering plant native to Australia and Asia.

<i>Persicaria prostrata</i> Species of plant

Persicaria prostrata, basionym Polygonum prostratum, is a species of flowering plant in the family Polygonaceae, native to Australia and perhaps New Zealand. It is known by the common name of creeping knotweed.

References

  1. "Polygonum amphibium, Water Smartweed". explorer.natureserve.org. NatureServe. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  2. "Persicaria amphibia". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  3. Persicaria amphibia. The Jepson Manual, University of California, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Persicaria amphibia. Flora of North America.
  5. 1 2 3 Reveal, J. L.; Atha, D. E. (2012). "Persicaria (L.) Mill. Smartweed". In Cronquist; et al. (eds.). Intermountain Flora. Vol. 8. Bronx, NY: New York Botanical Garden Press. pp. 236–250.
  6. "GSA 2018 – Kirk Bryan Field Trip – At the Edge of the Laurentide Ice Sheet: Stratigraphy and Chronology of Glacial Deposits in Central Indiana". Geological Society of America. 6 December 2018.
  7. Polygonum amphibium. Native American Ethnobotany. University of Michigan, Dearborn.