Persicaria punctata
Encyclopedia
Persicaria punctata is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family
known by the common name dotted knotweed.
It is native to the Americas, where it can be found in moist and wet habitat types from Canada
to Argentina
. It is an extremely variable plant. It may be annual or perennial.
It grows from a rhizome
and produces decumbent or erect stems which may just exceed one meter in length. The branching stems may root at nodes that come in contact with the substrate. The lance-shaped leaves are up to 15 centimeters long and have stipule
s widened into bristly brown ochrea
that wrap around their bases. The inflorescence
is a number of branching clusters of dotted greenish flowers with white edges, sometimes tinged pink.
Polygonaceae
Polygonaceae is a family of flowering plants known informally as the "knotweed family" or "smartweed family"— "buckwheat family" in the United States. The name is based on the genus Polygonum and was first used by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1789 in his book, Genera Plantarum. The name refers...
known by the common name dotted knotweed.
It is native to the Americas, where it can be found in moist and wet habitat types from Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
to Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. It is an extremely variable plant. It may be annual or perennial.
It grows from a rhizome
Rhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes...
and produces decumbent or erect stems which may just exceed one meter in length. The branching stems may root at nodes that come in contact with the substrate. The lance-shaped leaves are up to 15 centimeters long and have stipule
Stipule
In botany, stipule is a term coined by Linnaeus which refers to outgrowths borne on either side of the base of a leafstalk...
s widened into bristly brown ochrea
Ochrea
Ochrea, commonly spelled ocrea, is a structure formed of stipules fused into a sheath surrounding the stem. It is a diagnostic character in the Polygonaceae.In palms it denotes an extension of the leaf sheath beyond the petiole insertion....
that wrap around their bases. The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
is a number of branching clusters of dotted greenish flowers with white edges, sometimes tinged pink.