Pennsylvania smartweed

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Pennsylvania smartweed leaf

Pennsylvania smartweed

Pennsylvania smartweed ocrea

Pennsylvania smartweed

Pennsylvania smartweed habit

Pennsylvania smartweed

Morphology

Stem

Ascending to erect, simple or branched, glabrous or appressed-pubescent distally, eglandular or stipitate-glandular distally.

Leaves

Mostly cauline, alternate, ocrea brown, cylindric, .2 to .8 inch, chartaceous, base inflated, margins truncate, eciliate or ciliate with bristles to .02 inch, surface glabrous or appressed-pubescent, eglandular; petiole .04 to 1.2 inch; blade sometimes with dark triangular blotch adaxially, narrowly to broadly lanceolate, 1.6 to 9 inches long, .4 to 1.9 inches wide, base tapered to cuneate, margins antrorsely scabrous, apex acuminate, surfaces glabrous or appressed-pubescent, eglandular or glandular-punctate abaxially and occasionally adaxially so.

Inflorescence

Terminal and axillary, usually erect, rarely nodding, uninterrupted, .2 to 2 inches tall, .2 to .6 inch wide; peduncle .4 to 2.5 inch, glabrous or pubescent, usually stipitate-glandular; ocreolae subtending clusters of flowers, overlapping, margins eciliate or with bristles to .02 inch. Pedicels ascending, .06 to .18 inch.

Flower

2-14 per fascicle; perianth greenish white to rose, glabrous, not glandular-punctate; tepals 5, obovate to elliptic, .1 to .2 inch, veins prominent, not anchor-shaped; stamens 6-8, included; styles 2(-3), deciduous, included.

Fruit

Achenes brown to black, usually discoid, rarely 3-angled, .08 to .13 inch, shiny, smooth. Seeds 1.

Ecology

Habitat

Mud flats in marshes and along shores of ponds and lakes, wet prairies, playas, spring runs, ditches, moist disturbed sites, waste places

Distribution

Throughout Kansas

Additional Notes

Synonyms

Alternative scientific names that have been used for this plant.