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Persicaria lapathifolia
Also called Dock leaved smartweed, Pale persicaria, Pale smartweed, Pink knotweed, Willow weed, Dock-Leaf Smartweed, Dockweed Smartweed
Pale persicaria is a small annual weed of the buckwheat family, found across much of the world in disturbed ground, field edges and gardens. It is easy to grow from seed in full sun and is usually a weed rather than a cultivated ornamental.
Persicaria lapathifolia (syn. Polygonum lapathifolium), known as pale persicaria, is a plant of the family Polygonaceae. It is considered to be native throughout most of the world, from arctic to tropical realms, except South America and Southern Africa. It is closely related to Persicaria maculosa and as such is considered a weed in Britain and Europe. Other common names for the plant include pale smartweed, curlytop knotweed, and willow weed. It is a species complex made up of a great many varying forms, sometimes considered varieties. The environment also has a strong influence on the morphology of an individual plant.
Persicaria lapathifolia is found in many parts of both the Old World and New World. Many varietal and sub-specific names have been coined, as the plant is morphologically variable. The species is found growing on the sea shore and in disturbed ground such as arable land, gardens, waste ground, rubbish tips and road verges.
It has been found in analysis of the intestinal contents of the Tollund Man body, found in peat in Denmark in 1950.
Amphibious Bistort · Pink Headed Knotweed · Chinese Knotweed · Water pepper · Redshank · Persicaria microcephala · Small water-pepper · Vietnamese Coriander · Pinkweed · Asiatic Tearthumb · Dotted Smartweed · Persicaria tinctoria
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Persicaria lapathifolia 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.
