Author

Allen M. Dupre

Ecology

Alluvial woods, swamp forests, ditches, and canals

Family

Polygonaceae, smartweed family  

Flowers

Pedicels ascending, 1-3 mm

Flowers 1-5 per ocreate fascicle; perianth greenish proximally, creamy or tan distally, occasionally tinged pink, glabrous, not glandular-punctate, nonaccrescent; tepals 5, connate ca. 1/3 their length, obovate, 2-3 mm, veins not prominent, not anchor-shaped, margins entire, apex obtuse to rounded; stamens 5, included; anthers pink or red, elliptic; styles 3, connate proximally

Fruit

Brown to black, trigonous, 1.5-2.5 × 1.2-1.7 mm, shiny, smooth; fruiting calyx oval, enclosing achene.

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Inflorescences

Mostly terminal, erect, uninterrupted, 20-80 × 4-8 mm; peduncle 10-70 mm, strigose; ocreolae overlapping, margins ciliate with bristles 0.6-5 mm

Leaves

Alternate, simple
ocrea brown, cylindric, 10-20 mm, chartaceous, base usually inflated, margins truncate, ciliate with bristles 6-12 mm, surface strigose and with loosely ascending to spreading hairs at least proximally, not glandular-punctate
petioles 0.1-0.5 cm, hairs spreading-hirsute, leaves sometimes sessile
blades without dark triangular blotch adaxially, lanceolate, 3-18 × 1.5-4.8 cm, base tapered to truncate, margins appressed-ciliate, apex acute to acuminate, faces sparsely hirsute to loosely appressed hirsute abaxially and adaxially

References

Godfrey, R.K., and J.W. Wooten. 1981. Aquatic and Wetland Plants of Southeastern, Dicotyledons. United States. The University of Georgia Press, Athens.

Hinds, H. R. and C. C. Freeman. 2005. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee. Flora of North America. Volume V: Magnoliophyta: Caryophyllidae, part 2. Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford.

USDA, NRCS. 2006. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 8 December 2006). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Stems

Ascending or erect, branched distally, +/- ribbed, glabrous or hairs loosely appressed- to spreading-hirsute near nodes.

Synonyms

BASIONYM:

Polygonum setaceum Baldwin in S. Elliott, Sketch Bot. S. Carolina 1: 455. 1817;

SYNONYMS:

P. hydropiperoides Michaux var. setaceum (Baldwin) Gleason

P. setaceum var. interjectum Fernald

P. setaceum var. tonsum Fernald

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