''Persicaria pensylvanica'' (syn. ''Polygonum pensylvanicum'') is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the

buckwheat Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum'') or common buckwheat is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. Buckwheat originated around the 6th millennium BCE in the region of what ...

family,

Polygonaceae The Polygonaceae are a Family (biology), family of flowering plants known Common name, informally as the knotweed family or smartweed—buckwheat family in the United States. The Botanical name, name is Basionym, based on the genus ''Polygonum'', ...

. It is native to parts of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, where it is widespread in Canada and the United States. It has also been noted as an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

in parts of Europe and South America.''Persicaria pensylvanica''.
Flora of North America. Common names include Pennsylvania smartweed and pinkweed.

Description

Pennsylvania smartweed is a variable annual herb reaching to tall. The upright, ribbed stems are branching or unbranched. The lance-shaped leaves have a short

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

and a blade about long, sometimes up to . The blade may be marked with a dark blotch. The brownish

ochrea An ochrea (Latin ''ocrea'', greave or protective legging), also spelled ocrea, is a plant structure formed of stipules fused into a sheath surrounding the stem, and is typically found in the Polygonaceae The Polygonaceae are a Family (biology ...

at the base is up to . The

inflorescences In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a main axis ( pe ...

grow at the top of the stem and from the leaf axils. The flowers have five pinkish or greenish

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s each a few millimeters long. This plant grows in moist, disturbed habitat types, such as ponds,

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

s, riverbanks, irrigated fields, and ditches.

Ecology

This plant is an important part of the habitat for

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

and other birds, which use it for food and cover. At least 50 species of birds have been observed feeding on the seeds, including

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

geese A goose (: geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (black geese). Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily (e.g., Egyp ...

rails Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters * Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' (1967 fi ...

, bobwhites,

mourning dove The mourning dove (''Zenaida macroura'') is a member of the dove Family (biology), family, Columbidae. The bird is also known as the American mourning dove, the rain dove, the chueybird, colloquially as the turtle dove, and it was once known a ...

, and

ring-necked pheasant The common pheasant (''Phasianus colchicus''), ring-necked pheasant, or blue-headed pheasant, is a bird in the pheasant family (Phasianidae). The genus name comes from Latin ''phasianus'' 'pheasant'. The species name ''colchicus'' is Latin for ...

. The seeds and other parts are eaten by mammals such as the

white-footed mouse The white-footed mouse (''Peromyscus leucopus'') is a rodent native to North America from southern Canada to the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is a species of the genus ''Peromyscus'', a closely related group of New World mice often ...

muskrat The muskrat or common muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over various climates ...

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...

, and

fox squirrel The fox squirrel (''Sciurus niger''), also known as the eastern fox squirrel or Bryant's fox squirrel, is the largest species of tree squirrel native to North America. It is sometimes mistaken for the American red squirrel or eastern gray squirr ...

.''Polygonum pensylvanicum'' L.
Plant Fact Sheet. USDA NRCS.

Traditional native American medicine

Native Americans have various uses for the plant. The Chippewa use it for

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...

.''Polygonum pensylvanicum''
Native American Ethnobotany. University of Michigan, Dearborn. The

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

use it for

horse colic Colic in horses is defined as abdominal pain, but it is a clinical symptom rather than a diagnosis. The term colic can encompass all forms of gastrointestinal conditions which cause pain as well as other causes of abdominal pain not involving th ...

. The

Menominee The Menominee ( ; meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recognized tribe of Na ...

take a leaf infusion for hemorrhage of blood from the mouth and post-partum healing. The

Meskwaki The Meskwaki (sometimes spelled Mesquaki), also known by the European exonyms Fox Indians or the Fox, are a Native American people. They have been closely linked to the Sauk people of the same language family. In the Meskwaki language, th ...

use it on bleeding

hemorrhoid Hemorrhoids (or haemorrhoids), also known as piles, are vascular structures in the anal canal. In their normal state, they are cushions that help with stool control. They become a disease when swollen or inflamed; the unqualified term ''h ...

s.Smith, Huron H. 1928 Ethnobotany of the Meskwaki Indians. Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee 4:175-326 (p. 236,237)

Notes

External links

''Polygonum pensylvanicum''.
United States Department of Agriculture plants profile
''Polygonum pensylvanicum''.
Freckmann Herbarium, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point.
photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected in Missouri in 1893
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15596461 pensylvanica Flora of the Eastern United States Flora of Eastern Canada Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Garden plants of North America Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus