Common names: water smartweed, dotted smartweed

Scientific names: Polygonum punctatum (Persicaria punctata)

Seasons of significant use: summer (for Polygonum spp. complex)

Characteristics: Native, annual or perennial, warm seaon forb to 3.0 feet. Stems erect or ascending, branched, swollen at the nodes; leaves alternate, simple, lanceolate to elliptic, punctate, stipulate; stipules form a papery sheath around the nodes called an ocrea, margins bristly or ciliate; inflorescence relatively narrow (usually 0.2 inch or less thick); flower petals and sepals are glandular dotted; fruit is a dark, shiny, mostly 3-angled but sometimes lens shaped achene. Flowers February-December.

Plant community type: Wet areas such as ditches, marshes, beaver ponds, swales, etc.

More Plant Photos and Descriptions:
Appendix C: Plants by Common Name
Appendix C: Plants by Scientific Name
Appendix C: Plants Listed by Family