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Magnoliopsida
Persicaria
EOL Text
Erect or procumbent perennial herb, often mat-forming. Stems hollow, striate along the length, with distinct bract-like ochreae at the nodes, these with ciliate margins. Leaves linear-lanceolate, ciliate at the base, clasping the stems. Flowers in terminal or lateral, spike-like racemes, Pinkish white. Fruit a small, smooth and shiny nut, reddish-brown to black.
This annual plant is about 2½–4' tall, branching occasionally. The stems are light green, terete, hairless, and somewhat swollen at the petiole bases. The alternate leaves are up to 8" long and 2" across; they are medium to dark green, lanceolate, glabrous or slightly pubescent, and their margins are smooth. At the petiole bases, there are membranous sheaths (ocreae) that wrap around the stems. These sheaths often have longitudinal ribs, but they lack bristles along their upper margins. With age, the sheaths gradually turn brown and peel away. The upper stems terminate in spike-like racemes of flowers. These racemes are about 2-8" long, and they droop conspicuously downward. The small flowers are densely crowded together along the length of each raceme. Each flower is about 1/8" long, consisting of 5 tepals and the reproductive organs. These tepals are usually white or greenish white; less often they are light pink. Because the flowers don't open fully, the inner tepals can be difficult to observe. The flowers have inconspicuous pedicels (less than 1 mm. in length). The blooming period occurs from mid-summer to early fall, and lasts about 1½-2 months. There is no noticeable floral scent. The seeds are dark brown or black, ovoid and bluntly 3-angled in shape, and up to 2 mm. across. The flattened sides of the seeds are slightly concave and their surfaces are shiny. The root system is shallow and fibrous. This plant spreads by reseeding itself, often forming colonies at favorable sites.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Copyright © 2002-2014 by Dr. John Hilty |
Source | http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/wetland/plants/heartease.htm |
VII, VIII, IX, X, Juan Fernandez
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Pablo Gutierrez, IABIN |
Source | No source database. |
Mountain slopes, meadows; 1500-3200 m.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=242414799 |
Conservation Actions
There are no conservation measures in place and none needed.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources |
Source | http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/164411 |
Plants annual, 2-8(-10) dm; roots also often arising from proximal nodes; rhizomes and stolons absent. Stems decumbent to ascending or erect, branched, without noticeable ribs, glabrous, glandular-punctate. Leaves: ocrea brown, cylindric or funnelform, (8-)10-15 mm, chartaceous, base inflated, margins truncate, ciliate with bristles 1-4 mm, surface glabrous or strigose, usually glandular-punctate; petiole 0.1-0.8 cm, glandular-punctate, leaves sometimes sessile; blade without dark triangular or lunate blotch adaxially, lanceolate to narrowly rhombic, (1.5-)4-10(-15) × 0.4-2.5 cm, base tapered or cuneate, margins antrorsely strigose, apex acute to acuminate, faces glabrous or scabrous along midveins, glandular-punctate, sometimes obscurely so adaxially. Inflorescences terminal and axillary, erect or nodding, interrupted or uninterrupted distally, 30-180 × 5-9 mm; peduncle (0-)10-50 mm, sometimes absent on axillary inflorescences and flowers thus enclosed in ocreae, glabrous, glandular-punctate; ocreolae not overlapping or overlapping distally, margins eciliate or ciliate with bristles to 1 mm. Pedicels ascending, 1-3 mm. Flowers 1-3(-5) per ocreate fascicle, homostylous; perianth greenish proximally, white or pink distally, glandular-punctate with punctae ± uniformly distributed, scarcely accrescent; tepals 4-5, connate ca. 3 their length, petaloid, obovate, 2-3.5 mm, veins prominent or not, not anchor-shaped, margins entire, apex obtuse to rounded; stamens 6-8, included; anthers pink or red, elliptic to ovate; styles 2-3, connate proximally. Achenes included or apex exserted, brownish black, biconvex or 3-gonous, 1.9-3 × 1.5-2 mm, dull, minutely roughened. 2n = 20.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242100096 |
In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / gall
embedded sorus of Bauhinus cordae causes gall of live, swollen, deformed ovary of Persicaria hydropiper
Remarks: season: 8-10
Foodplant / feeds on
larva of Phytobius waltoni feeds on Persicaria hydropiper
Foodplant / spot causer
epiphyllous, immersed pycnidium of Septoria polygonorum causes spots on live leaf of Persicaria hydropiper
Remarks: season: 7-10
Other: minor host/prey
Foodplant / pathogen
sorus of Sphacelotheca hydropiperis infects and damages live ovary of Persicaria hydropiper
Remarks: season: 9-10
Other: major host/prey
Water-pepper or water pepper (Persicaria hydropiper, syn. Polygonum hydropiper) is a plant of the family Polygonaceae. It grows in damp places and shallow water. It is a cosmopolitan plant, found in Australia, New Zealand, temperate Asia, Europe, and North America.[1] It has some use as a spice because of its pungent flavor.
Description[edit]
Water pepper is an annual herb with an erect stem growing to a height of 20 to 70 cm (8 to 28 in). The leaves are alternate and almost stalkless. The leaf blades are narrowly ovate and have entire margins fringed by very short hairs. They are tapering with a blunt apex. Each leaf base has stipules which are fused into a stem-enclosing sheath that is loose and fringed at the upper end. The inflorescence is a nodding spike. The perianth of each tiny flower consists of four or five segments, united near its green base and white or pink at the edges. There are six stamens, three fused carpels and three styles. The fruit is a dark brown oval, flattened nut.[2]
Active ingredients[edit]
Water-pepper has several active ingredients. Two bicyclic sesquiterpenoids are present, polygodial (tadeonal, an unsaturated dialdehyde with a drimane backbone) and waburganal, which has been found responsible for the pungent taste (hence its edibility).[3] The plant also contains rutin, a source of the bitter taste impression.
The plant contains an essential oil (0.5%) which consists of monoterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids: α-pinene, β-pinene, 1,4-cineol, fenchone, α-humulene, β-caryophyllene, trans-β-bergamotene. Carboxylic acids (cinnamic, valeric and caproic acid) and their esters were present in traces. The composition depends strongly on genetic factors.
Edibility[edit]
In Japan this plant's leaves are used as a vegetable - these are from the cultivar, not the wild type which has a far more pungent taste. Wild waterpepper produces oils that cause skin irritation,[4] and the many acids in its tissues, including formic acid, make the plant unpalatable to livestock.[5] Young red sprouts are used as a sashimi garnish, and are known as beni-tade (紅蓼?, red water pepper). Though livestock do not eat the wild type, some insects do, giving rise to the Japanese saying Tade kū mushi mo suki zuki (蓼食う虫も好き好き?, Some insects eat water pepper and like it), which may be translated as “There is no accounting for taste.” or more narrowly “Some prefer nettles.”
The seeds of the water-pepper may be added to wasabi.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Persicaria hydropiper. |
References[edit]
- ^ Dennis I. Morris DI (2009) Polygonaceae, version 2009:1. In MF Duretto (Ed.) Flora of Tasmania Online. 17 pp. (Tasmanian Herbarium, Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery: Hobart). ISBN 978-1-921599-30-9 (PDF). www.tmag.tas.gov.au/floratasmania
- ^ "Water pepper: Persicaria hydropiper". NatureGate. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
- ^ Jonassohn, M. (1996). Sesquiterpenoid unsaturated dialdehydes - Structural properties that affect reactivity and bioactivity. Doctoral thesis, Lund University, Sweden. ISBN 91-628-2215-2. [1] PDF (730 KiB)
- ^ Flora of North America
- ^ Illinois Wildflowers
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Wikipedia |
Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Persicaria_hydropiper&oldid=653197764 |
limbata: bordered, with a margin or fringe (a reference to the ochrea)
Persicaria attenuata (R. Br.) Sojak , 1974
License | Public Domain |
Rights holder/Author | No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation. |
Source | http://treatment.plazi.org/id/C9FB705C09D122FAD2EEE447262748AF |