102 POLTGONACEAE (BUCKWHEAT FAMILY) 



nodding, interrupted racemes ; calyx greenish, also gland-dotted, and 

 as pungent to taste as the leaves ; stamens four to six ; style short, 

 two- or three-parted. Achenes minutely ridged, lens-shaped or 

 three-angled approaching to ovoid, dull, reddish brown. (Fig. 60.) 



Means of control 



Cultivation of the ground ; close cutting or hand-pulling before 

 the earliest flowers ripen seed. 



MILD WATER-PEPPER 



Polygonum hydropiperoides, Michx. 



Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom : June to September. 



Seed-time: July to October. 



Range: New Brunswick to Minnesota, southward to Florida and 



Mexico ; also in California. 

 Habitat : Damp soil ; wet meadows, swamps, waste places. 



Often found growing in company with the Smartweed, and more 

 troublesome as a weed because perennial. Stems slender, erect 

 or decumbent, one to three feet long, usually simple or with a few 

 branches near the top, smooth or with appressed, bristly hairs. 

 Leaves narrowly lance-shaped, acute, bristly-hairy on the midribs 

 beneath, ciliate, not glandular, and not acrid ; sheathing stipules 

 narrow and bristle-fringed. Spikes terminal, erect, narrow, often 

 interrupted below ; calyx pink or greenish white, with eight stamens 

 and with style deeply three-parted. Achenes three-angled, smooth, 

 and shining. 



Means of control 



Drainage and cultivation where practicable ; frequent and close 

 cutting for the purpose of starving the perennial roots and prevent- 

 ing the production of seed. Small areas may be grubbed out. 



LADY'S THUMB 

 Polygonum Persicaria, L. 



Other English names: Spotted Smartweed, Spotted Knotweed, 

 Red-shanks, Heartweed, Peach-leaved Persicary. 



