Persicaria hydropiperoides

{{short description|Species of plant}}

{{Speciesbox

|image = Persicaria hydropiperoides FWS-1.jpg

|genus = Persicaria

|species = hydropiperoides

|authority = (Michx.) Small

|synonyms_ref = [http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-2572546 The Plant List, Persicaria hydropiperoides (Michx.) Small ]

|synonyms =

• Polygonum barbatum Walter
• Polygonum hydropiperoides Michx.
• Polygonum opelousanum Riddell ex Small

}}

Persicaria hydropiperoides, commonly called swamp smartweed, mild waterpepper, false waterpepper,{{Cite web |title=Persicaria hydropiperoides - Species Page - APA: Alabama Plant Atlas |url=http://floraofalabama.org/Plant.aspx?id=2929 |access-date=2024-08-29 |website=floraofalabama.org}}{{Cite web |title=Persicaria hydropiperoides (Mild Waterpepper): Minnesota Wildflowers |url=https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/mild-waterpepper |access-date=2024-08-29 |website=www.minnesotawildflowers.info |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2024-08-29 |title=Swamp Smartweed (Persicaria hydropiperoides) |url=https://garden.org/plants/view/208036/Swamp-Smartweed-Persicaria-hydropiperoides/ |archive-date= |access-date=2024-08-29 |website=The National Gardening Association Plants Database}}{{Cite web |title=Mild Waterpepper (Persicaria hydropiperoides) |url=https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/wetland/plants/mild_wtpepper.htm |access-date=2024-08-29 |website=www.illinoiswildflowers.info}} or sometimes simply waterpepper,{{Cite web |title=Persicaria hydropiperoides (Waterpepper) - FSUS |url=https://fsus.ncbg.unc.edu/main.php?pg=show-taxon-detail.php&lsid=urn:lsid:ncbg.unc.edu:taxon:%7B98CB62A6-4AB1-476A-9B8A-6FA3A11C32BF%7D |access-date=2024-08-29 |website=fsus.ncbg.unc.edu}} is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family. It has a widespread distribution across much of North America and South America.[http://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Persicaria%20hydropiperoides.png Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map]Jørgensen, P. M., M. H. Nee & S. G. Beck. (eds.) 2014. Catálogo de las plantas vasculares de Bolivia, Monographs in systematic botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 127(1–2): i–viii, 1–1744Marticorena, C. & M. Quezada. 1985. Catálogo de la Flora Vascular de Chile. Gayana, Botánica 42: 1–157.Porter, D. M. 1983. Vascular plants of the Galapagos: Origins and dispersal. 33–54. In M. B. R. I. Bowman & A. E. Leviton Patterns of Evolution in Galapagos Organisms. Pacific Division, AAAS, San FranciscoCowan, C. P. 1983. Flora de Tabasco. Listados Florísticos de México 1: 1–123. Its preferred habitat is in moist, saturated to inundated soils growing in full sun to partial shade; such as swamp forests, marshes, streams, shorelines, and ditches. It is sometimes semi-aquatic.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

Swamp smartweed is quite variable and is sometimes divided into several varieties, some of which may be better treated as species in their own right.[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250037826 Flora of North America, (Michaux) Small, 1903. Swamp smartweed, renouée faux-poivre-d'eau ]

In general, swamp smartweed is a rhizomatous perennial herb growing upright or erect and approaching a maximum height of one meter (40 inches). Roots may emerge from nodes on the lower stem. The bristly lance-shaped leaves are around 10 centimeters (4 inches) long. The leaves have sheathing stipules known as ochreae. The spike-like inflorescence produces many pinkish flowers each about 3 millimeters wide.

Swamp smartweed is reported to be edible, as are all species in the genus Persicaria.{{Cite book |last=Thayer |first=Samuel |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/on1370911493 |title=Sam Thayer's field guide to edible wild plants of eastern & central North America |date=2023 |publisher=Forager's Harvest |isbn=978-0-9766266-4-0 |location=Weyerhaeuser, WI |pages=583–585 |language=en |oclc=on1370911493}} Although its close relatives Persicaria hydropiper and Persicaria punctata are known to possess a hot or pungent quality when consumed, swamp smartweed is said to lack the same pungency by at least one author.