Persicaria perfoliata

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Persicaria perfoliata
Persicaria perfoliata 5.JPG
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Polygonaceae
Genus: Persicaria
Species:
P. perfoliata
Binomial name
Persicaria perfoliata
(L.) H.Gross [1]
Synonyms [1]
  • Ampelygonum perfoliatum(L.) Roberty & Vautier
  • Fagopyrum perfoliatum(L.) Raf.
  • Polygonum perfoliatumL.
  • Tracaulon perfoliatum(L.) Greene
  • Truellum perfoliatum(L.) Soják

Persicaria perfoliata (basionym Polygonum perfoliatum [1] ) is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family. Common names include mile-a-minute, devil's tail, giant climbing tearthumb, [2] [3] and Asiatic tearthumb. [4] It is a trailing herbaceous annual vine with barbed stems and triangular leaves. It is native to most of temperate and tropical eastern Asia, occurring from eastern Russia and Japan in the north, and the range extending to the Philippines and India in the south. [5] [6]

Contents

P. perfoliata is an aggressive, highly invasive weed. [3] In Europe, Persicaria perfoliata is included since 2016 in the list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern (the Union list). [7] This implies that this species cannot be imported, cultivated, transported, commercialized, planted, or intentionally released into the environment in the whole of the European Union. [8]

Description

Fruit PersicariaPerf1.jpg
Fruit

Persicaria perfoliata has a reddish stem that is armed with downward pointing hooks or barbs which are also present on the underside of the leaf blades. The light green leaves are shaped like an equilateral (equal-sided) triangle and alternate along the narrow, delicate stems. Distinctive circular, cup-shaped leafy structures, called ochreas, surround the stem at intervals.

Flower buds, and later flowers and fruits, emerge from within the ocreas. Flowers are small, white and generally inconspicuous. The edible fruits are attractive, metallic blue and segmented, each segment containing a single glossy, black or reddish-black seed. [6]

Habitat

Persicaria perfoliata prefers warm open areas, along the edges of woods, wetlands, stream banks, and roadsides, and uncultivated open fields, resulting from both natural and human causes, dense wooded areas where the overstory has opened up increasing the sunlight to the forest floor. Natural areas such as stream banks, parks, open space, road shoulders, forest edges and fence lines are all typical areas to find P. perfoliata. It also occurs in environments that are extremely wet with poor soil structure.

Available light and soil moisture are both integral to the successful colonization of this species. It will tolerate shade for a part of the day, but needs a good percentage, 63-100% of the available light. The ability of P. perfoliata to attach to other plants with its recurved barbs and climb over the plants to reach an area of high light intensity is a key to its survival. It can survive in areas with relatively low soil moisture, but demonstrates a preference for high soil moisture.

Uses

In traditional Chinese medicine, Persicaria perfoliata is known as gangbangui (Chinese :杠板归; pinyin :gāngbǎngūi), and is thought to be useful for various remedies in herbal medicine. [3] It can also be used as a fiber or used in rope making.

Persicaria perfoliata is a climbing vine. Invasive mile-a-minute weed.jpg
Persicaria perfoliata is a climbing vine.

Edibility

Persicaria perfoliata is an edible species. Its tender leaves and shoots can be eaten raw or cooked as a salad green or vegetable and its fruit is sweet and can be eaten fresh. [9]

Introduction in the United States

Rhinoncomimus latipes used as biocontrol. Rhinoncomimus latipes. recently eclosed.jpg
Rhinoncomimus latipes used as biocontrol.

The first records of Persicaria perfoliata in North America are from Portland, Oregon (1890), and Beltsville, Maryland (1937). Both of these sites were eliminated or did not establish permanent populations of the species.

However, the introduction of P. perfoliata somewhere between the late 1930s and 1946 to a nursery site in Stewartstown, York County, [10] Pennsylvania, produced a population of this plant that did become established in the wild. It is speculated that the seed was spread with Rhododendron stock. Starting in 2004, the weevil Rhinoncomimus latipes has been introduced in eastern US to control this plant, with certain amount of success. [11]

Reproduction and propagation

Persicaria perfoliata is primarily a self-pollinating plant (supported by its inconspicuous, closed flowers with little scent), with occasional outcrossing. Fruits and viable seeds are produced without assistance from pollinators. Vegetative propagation from roots has not been successful for this plant. It is a very tender annual, withering with a slight frost, and reproduces successfully until the first frost. P. perfoliata is a prolific seeder, producing many seeds on a single plant over a long season, from June until October in Virginia, and a slightly shorter season in more northern geographic areas. It can cover as much as 30 feet (9.1 m) in a single season, maybe even more in the southern United States.

Birds are probably the primary long-distance dispersal agents of P. perfoliata. Transport of seeds short distances by native ant species has been observed. This activity is probably encouraged by the presence of a tiny white food body (elaiosome) on the tip of the seed that may be attractive to the ants. These seed-carrying ants may play an important role in the survival and germination of the seeds of P. perfoliata. Local bird populations are important for dispersal under utility lines, bird feeders, fence lines and other perching locations. Other animals observed eating its fruits are chipmunks, squirrel and deer.

Water is also an important mode of dispersal. Its fruits can remain buoyant for 7–9 days, an important advantage for dispersing seed long distances in stream and river environments. The long vines frequently hang over waterways, allowing fruits that detach to be carried away in the water current.

Chemistry

Persicaria perfoliata contains phenylpropanoid esters such as 6'-acetyl-3,6-diferuloylsucrose (helonioside B), 2',4',6'-triacetyl-3,6-diferuloylsucrose, 1, 2',4',6'-tetraacetyl-3,6-diferuloylsucrose, 1,2',6'-triacetyl-3, 6-diferuloylsucrose, 2',6'-diacetyl-3,6-diferuloylsucrose, 1,3,6-tri-p-coumaroyl-6'-feruloylsucroses, vanicoside A and vanicoside B. [12]

Related Research Articles

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<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>Polygonum arenastrum</i> Species of flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae

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<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.

Tearthumb is a common name for a group of annual vining plants within the genus Persicaria, notable for the small, sharp spines covering the stems, which "tear the thumb", leading to the common name. The spines are used for climbing, and can puncture the leaves of plants being used as supports.

<i>Ipomoea cairica</i> Species of vine

Ipomoea cairica is a vining, herbaceous, perennial plant with palmate leaves and large, showy white to lavender flowers. A species of morning glory, it has many common names, including mile-a-minute vine, Messina creeper, Cairo morning glory, coast morning glory and railroad creeper. The species name cairica translates to "from Cairo", the city where this species was first collected.

<i>Mikania micrantha</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Silphium perfoliatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Silphium perfoliatum, the cup plant or cup-plant, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to eastern and central North America. It is an erect herbaceous perennial with triangular toothed leaves, and daisy-like yellow composite flower heads in summer.

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 amphibia</i> Species of plant

Persicaria amphibia 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, and it grows elsewhere as an introduced species and sometimes a noxious weed.

Kudzu of the North may refer to:

Mile-a-minute may refer to:

<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

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<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>Rhinoncomimus latipes</i> Species of beetle

Rhinoncomimus latipes, the mile-a-minute weevil, is a species of weevil in the family of beetles known as Curculionidae.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Persicaria perfoliata (L.) H.Gross". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  2. Flora of North America, Persicaria perfoliata (Linnaeus) H. Gross, 1919. Devil's-tail or giant climbing tearthumb, mile-a-minute weed
  3. 1 2 3 "Persicaria perfoliata ("mile-a-minute" weed)". CABI. 19 November 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  4. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Polygonum perfoliatum". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  5. "Persicaria perfoliata". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  6. 1 2 Flora of China, Polygonum perfoliatum Linnaeus, 1759. 杠板归 gang ban gui
  7. "List of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern - Environment - European Commission". ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  8. "REGULATION (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European parliament and of the council of 22 October 2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species".
  9. "Medicinal herbs: Polygonum perfoliatum". Natural Medicinal Herbs.
  10. Center, National Invasive Species Information. "Invasive Species: Plants - Mile-A-Minute Weed (Persicaria perfoliata)". www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  11. Bugguide.net. Species Rhinoncomimus latipes - Mile-a-minute Weevil
  12. Sun, X; Zimmermann, ML; Campagne, JM; Sneden, AT (2000). "New sucrose phenylpropanoid esters from Polygonum perfoliatum". Journal of Natural Products. 63 (8): 1094–7. doi:10.1021/np000055e. PMID   10978204.