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Bistorta bistortoides
Also called Bistort, Western bistort, Smartweed, Knotweed, Snakeweed, Smokeweed, Dirty Socks
A perennial meadow herb of western North American mountains that grows from a twisted rhizome and is grown mainly in naturalistic or moist meadow plantings. It needs consistently moist soil and cool conditions.
Bistorta bistortoides, commonly called western bistort, is a perennial herb in the buckwheat family. It grows mainly in the western United States, but also extends into small areas of southern Canada and northern Mexico. It is an edible plant that is part of the traditional diet of native peoples.
Western bistort is distributed throughout the mountainous west of North America from British Columbia and Alberta south to California and eastwards into the Rocky Mountains with some plants found in Chihuahua, in northern Mexico. They are typically found at high elevations of 1,300 to 3,800 meters (4,300 to 12,500 ft), however the Jepson Herbarium reports that it is also uncommonly found in coastal freshwater marshes at sea level to 20 m (66 ft) in northern and central California.
Western bistort is an important food plant in traditional hunting and gathering practices of many peoples living in the Mountain West, including the Blackfoot and Cheyenne. The roots are edible either raw, fire-roasted, or boiled; they are starchy and flavorful when raw, but older rootstocks are moderately fibrous. The taste is somewhat like that of water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis) when cooked. It has larger rootstalks than the related alpine bistort (Bistorta vivipara).
Himalayan Fleeceflower · Adderwort · Bistorta vacciniifolia · Alpine Bistort
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Bistorta bistortoides by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
