''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.Cowan, 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
In biology, being semi-aquatic refers to various macroorganisms that live regularly in both aquatic and terrestrial environments. When referring to animals, the term describes those that actively spend part of their daily time in water (in ...
rhizomatous
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...
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
stipule
In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole (botany), petiole). They are primarily found among dicots and rare among monocots. Stipules are considered part ...
inflorescence
In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, 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 mai ...
produces many pinkish flowers each about 3 millimeters wide.
Swamp smartweed is reported to be edible, as are all species in the genus ''
Persicaria
''Persicaria'' is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the knotweed family, Polygonaceae. Plants of the genus are known commonly as knotweeds or smartweeds. 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.