Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Caryophyllales > Polygonaceae > Persicaria > Persicaria minor

Persicaria minor (ladysthumb smartweed; ladysthumb; lady's-thumb; smartweed; spotted knotweed; spotted ladysthumb; spotted smartweed)

Synonyms:

Attributes

Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-High
Screening - Summer [2]  Moderate
Screening - Winter [2]  Porous
Bloom Period [2]  Spring
Drought Tolerance [2]  Medium
Edible [3]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Fire Tolerance [2]  Medium
Flower Type [3]  Hermaphrodite
Frost Free Days [2]  3 months 20 days
Fruit/Seed Abundance [2]  Medium
Fruit/Seed Begin [2]  Spring
Fruit/Seed End [2]  Fall
Growth Form [2]  Single Crown
Growth Period [2]  Spring
Growth Rate [2]  Rapid
Hazards [3]  Although no specific mention has been made for this species, there have been reports that some members of this genus can cause photosensitivity in susceptible people. Many species also contain oxalic acid (the distinctive lemony flavour of sorrel) - whilst not toxic this substance can bind up other minerals making them unavailable to the body and leading to mineral deficiency. Having said that, a number of common foods such as sorrel and rhubarb contain oxalic acid and the leaves of most members of this genus are nutritious and beneficial to eat in moderate quantities. Cooking the leaves will reduce their content of oxalic acid. People with a tendency to rheumatism, arthritis, gout, kidney stones or hyperacidity should take especial caution if including this plant in their diet since it can aggravate their condition;
Leaf Type [2]  Deciduous
Lifespan [3]  Annual
Pollinators [3]  Bats
Propagation [2]  Seed
Regrowth Rate [2]  Slow
Root Depth [2]  14 inches (36 cm)
Seed Spread Rate [2]  Rapid
Seed Vigor [2]  Medium
Seeds Per [2]  255775 / lb (563887 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [2]  Erect
Structure [4]  Herb
Usage [3]  A yellow dye is obtained from the plant when alum is used as a mordant;
Vegetative Spread Rate [2]  None
Flower Color [2]  Red
Foliage Color [2]  Green
Fruit Color [2]  Black
Flower Conspicuous [2]  Yes
Height [3]  24 inches (0.6 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [2]  USDA Zone: 10 Low Temperature: 30 F° (-1.1 C°) → 40 F° (4.4 C°)
Light Preference [2]  Full Sun
Soil Acidity [2]  Neutral
Soil Fertility [2]  Infertile
Water Use [2]  Moderate
View Plants For A Future Record : Persicaria minor

Protected Areas

Ecosystems

Predators

Providers

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Pegomya bicolor[6]
Septoria polygonorum[6]

External References

USDA Plant Profile

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1Derived from Allergy-Free Gardening OPALS™, Thomas Leo Ogren (2000)
2USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
3Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
4Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935
5Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
6Ecology of Commanster
7HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
8Robertson, C. Flowers and insects lists of visitors of four hundred and fifty three flowers. 1929. The Science Press Printing Company Lancaster, PA.
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0