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Montana Field Guide

Montana Field Guides

Marshpepper Smartweed - Polygonum hydropiper
Other Names:  Marshpepper Knotweed, Mild Water-pepper, Persicaria hydropiper

Image Copyright and Usage Information
Non-native Species

Global Rank: GNR
State Rank: SNA
C-value: 1


Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:


 

External Links

 
General Description
Glandular-punctate annual. Stems erect to prostrate, sometimes rooting at the nodes, branched, 8–80 cm. Leaves short-petiolate; the blades lanceolate to elliptic, 2–8 cm long; stipules brown, 5–15 mm long, papery, sparsely ciliate-margined. Flowers 2–4 mm long, in narrow terminal racemes 1–7 cm long; pedicels 1–3 mm long, ascending; tepals 4 to 5, densely glandular-punctate, green with white or pink margins, 3-veined. Achene 2- to 3-sided, 2–3 mm long, brown with a dull granular surface (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Species Range
Montana Range Range Descriptions

Non-native
 


Range Comments
Throughout temperate North America; introduced from Europe (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 21

(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version) Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density

Recency

 

(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)



Habitat
Mud along margins of wetlands, streams; plains, valleys. (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).)

Ecology
POLLINATORS
The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap: Bombus bifarius, Bombus flavifrons, Bombus frigidus, Bombus melanopygus, Bombus sylvicola, Bombus occidentalis, Bombus pensylvanicus, Bombus insularis, and Bombus kirbiellus (Macior 1974, Colla and Dumesh 2010).

Management


References
  • Literature Cited AboveLegend:   View Online Publication
    • Colla, S.R. and S. Dumesh. 2010. The bumble bees of southern Ontario: notes on natural history and distribution. Journal of the Entomological Society of Ontario 141:39-68.
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
    • Macior, L.M. 1974. Pollination ecology of the Front Range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Melanderia 15: 1-59.
  • Additional ReferencesLegend:   View Online Publication
    Do you know of a citation we're missing?
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, Second Edition. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 779 p.
  • Web Search Engines for Articles on "Marshpepper Smartweed"
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Citation for data on this website:
Marshpepper Smartweed — Polygonum hydropiper.  Montana Field Guide.  .  Retrieved on , from