Persicaria arifolia (L.) Haroldson - Halberd-leaved Tearthumb


 

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Persicaria arifolia - (image 1 of 5)

 

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.

 


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 Michael Hough © 2018