''Persicaria punctata'' ( syn. ''Polygonum punctatum'') is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family known by the common names dotted smartweed and dotted knotweed. ''Persicaria punctata'' is native to the Americas, where it can be found in moist and wet habitat types from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

including the West Indies. It is an extremely variable plant. It may be annual or perennial. ''Persicaria punctata'' grows from a

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

and produces decumbent or erect stems which may just exceed one meter (40 in.) 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 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 ...

s widened into bristly brown

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 ...

that wrap around the stems. The

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 ...

is a number of branching clusters of dotted greenish flowers with white edges, sometimes tinged pink.Flora of North America, ''Persicaria punctata'' (Elliott) Small, 1903. Dotted smartweed, renouée ponctuée
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References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentCalphotos Photo gallery, University of Californiaphoto of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected in Costa Rica in 1983
punctata Flora of Southern America Flora of Northern America Flora of the Caribbean Plants described in 1817 Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Polygonaceae-stub