DOTTED SMARTWEED
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| File Size: 50 KB |
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Polygonum punctatum Elliott
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| Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas |
| Perennial |
| Height: 1-3 feet |
| Family: Polygonaceae - Buckwheat Family |
| Flowering Period: July, August, September,October |
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| Also Called: | | Water smartweed. | | Stems: | | Erect or ascending, simple or branched; lower branches often decumbent and rooting at nodes. | | Leaves: | | Alternate, lanceolate to elliptic, 1 to 6 inches long, up to 4.5 inch wide, tapered at both ends, short-stalked; stipules cylindric, with long bristles on top margin. | | Inflorescences: | | Raceme, single or few, slender, erect or drooping, 1.5 to 4 inches long, 1/5 inch wide, terminal; flowers not crowded, lower ones often irregularly spaced. | | Flowers: | | Perianth bases greenish, lobes whitish; covered with tiny glandular dots; stamens and styles not extending beyond perianth lobes. | | Fruits: | | Achene, 3-angled or lens-shaped, dark. | | Habitat: | | Marshes, stream edges, wet ditches, and pond and lake shores. | | Distribution: | | East 4/5 of Kansas. | | Uses: | | Native Americans treated stomach pains with a decoction of dotted smartweed leaves and flowers. | | Comments: | | The common name refers to the tiny glandular dots on the perianth. |
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| Dotted smartweed inflorescences |  | | 105 KB | | Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas |
| | Dotted smartweed |  | | 123 KB | | Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas |
| | Dotted smartweed leaves |  | | 150 KB | | Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas |
| | Dotted smartweed stipule |  | | 56 KB | | Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas |
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