Taxonomy
Family: Polygonaceae
Synonymous with Polygonum arifolium L.
Habitat
Swamps, marshes, wet meadows.
Associates
Distribution
New Brunswick to MN, south to GA and MO.
Morphology
Annual; stems slender, 20-150 cm long, 4-angled, armed with small retrorse prickles, reclining on surrounding vegetation or erect when young; leaves hastate, to 20 cm long and 15 cm wide, finely stellate beneath, the basal lobes triangular, divergent; peduncles often glandular above; perianth 2.5 mm; styles 2, 0.5 mm; achene lenticular, 2.5-5 mm.
Notes
Flowers July to October
Wetland indicator: OBL
This species and P. sagittata belong to section Ehinocaulon (echino - "prickly or spiny", caulis - "stem") of Persicaria characterized by slender stems with long internodes armed with reflexed prickles.
References
Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
USDA, NRCS. 2002. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov).
National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
Michael Hough © 2018 |