Skip to main content

Smartweed (Persicaria barbata)

Smartweed (Persicaria barbata) is a species of plant in the Polygonaceae, low shrub, erect or creeping stems, elongated leaves, flowers and fruit in panicles, growing in moist or stagnant places on the banks of rivers, swamps, forests and agricultural land.

P. barbata has a cylindrical stem, dark green or red in color, has petiole-like borders forming internodes that allow aerial roots to grow to form separate shoots.

Dlium Smartweed (Persicaria barbata)


The leaves sit opposite, elongated, slender base, pointed tip, white hair, green upper surface with dark V-shaped markings, a large vein in the middle with many small pinnate veins.

Small flowers in panicles, white, growing in rows on long stalks at the end of the stem, erect and blooming all season. Smartweed grows to form colonies in places close to water or stagnant.





Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Polygonaceae
Subfamily: Polygonoideae
Tribe: Persicarieae
Subtribe: Persicariinae
Genus: Persicaria
Species: Persicaria barbata

Popular Posts

Bush sorrel (Hibiscus surattensis)

Bush sorrel ( Hibiscus surattensis ) is a plant species in Malvaceae, annual shrub, crawling on the surface or climbing, up to 3 meters long, thorny stems, green leaves, yellow trumpet flowers, grows wild in forests and canal edges, widely used for vegetables and treatment. H. surattensis has stems with spines and hairs, branching and reddish green. Petiole emerges from the stem with a straight edge to the side, up to 11 cm long, sturdy, thorny, hairy and reddish green. The leaves have a length of 10 cm, width of 10 cm, 3-5 lobed, each has a bone in the middle with several pinnate veins, sharp tip, sharp and jagged edges, wavy, stiff, green surface. Flowers up to 10 cm long, trumpet-shaped, yellow with a purple or brown or red center, solitary, axillary. Epicalyx has forked bracts, linear inner branches, spathulate outer branches. Stalks up to 6-7 cm. The seeds have a length of 3-3.5 mm and a width of 2.5 mm. Bush sorrels grow in pastures, marshes, abandoned fields and plantations, ...

Six new species forming the Sumbana species group in genus Nemophora Hoffmannsegg 1798 from Indonesia

NEWS - Sumbawa longhorn ( Nemophora sumbana Kozlov, sp. nov.), Timor longhorn ( Nemophora timorella Kozlov, sp. nov.), shining shade longhorn ( Nemophora umbronitidella Kozlov, sp. nov.), Wegner longhorn ( Nemophora wegneri Kozlov, sp. nov.), long brush longhorn ( Nemophora longipeniculella Kozlov, sp. nov.), and short brush longhorn ( Nemophora brevipeniculella Kozlov, sp. nov.) from the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia. The Lesser Sunda Islands consist of two parallel, linear oceanic island chains, including Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba, Sawu, Timor, Alor, and Tanimbar. The oldest of these islands have been continuously occurring for 10–12 million years. This long period of isolation has allowed significant in situ diversification, making the Lesser Sundas home to many endemic species. This island chain may act as a two-way filter for organisms migrating between the world's two great biogeographic regions, Asia and Australia-Papua. The recognition of a striking cli...

Perlis fairy lantern (Thismia perlisensis) resembling Thismia arachnites Ridley and Thismia javanica J.J.Sm.

NEWS - Perlis fairy lantern ( Thismia perlisensis Besi & Rusea sp. nov.) was discovered during a scientific expedition in a wetland forest at the foot of a limestone hill, Perlis State Park, resembling Thismia arachnites Ridley (1905) and Thismia javanica J.J.Sm. (1910), but has a prominent reddish dome-shaped annulus. Thismia perlisensis can be easily distinguished from T. arachnites and T. javanica by its blood-red dome-shaped annulus (vs. ring-like with a rim, orange annulus), prominent trilobed stigma with bifid and subulate lobes 1.8 mm long (vs. oblong, truncated stigma), and claviform apex of inner tepal appendage (vs. subulate apex of inner tepal appendage). Stenoendemic to northern Peninsular Malaysia, Perlis State and possibly Langkawi Island. Although there have been sightings of the plant on Langkawi Island, this location is based solely on photos posted on social media. There are currently no specimens or additional information to confirm. The new species grows in...