Persicaria hydropiperoides, commonly called swamp smartweed, mild waterpepper, false waterpepper, or sometimes simply waterpepper, is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family. It has a widespread distribution across much of North America and South America.Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution mapJørgensen, 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.
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.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. 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.
References
External links Jepson Manual Treatment Missouri Plants Photo Profile Calphotos Photo gallery, University of California photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected in Peru in 2012