422 MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



panicled; flowers whitish or flesh colored; stamen 8; achenes 3-angled or 4- 

 angled, smooth and shining. 



Distribution. Common southward from Missouri to Louisiana, Texas and 

 Mexico. 



Fig. 200. Ladies' Thumb (Polygonum Persicaria"). 

 Common in moht places. (Charlotte M. King.) 



Polygonum hydropiperoides Michx. Wild Water Pepper 



A smooth, branching perennial, slightly or not at all acrid; 1-3 feet high; 

 the narrow sheaths hairy, leaves narrowly lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate; 

 spikes erect, slender, sometimes filiform; flowers small, flesh colored, or nearly 

 white; stamens 8, style 3-parted to below the middle; achene 3-angled, ovoid 

 or oblong, smooth and shining. 



Distribution. In swamps or wet soils across the continent from New 

 Brunswick to California, Florida and Mexico. 



Polygonum Hydropiper L. Smartweed. Water Pepper 



Smooth, erect annual, 1-2 feet high ; stem often reddish ; leaves linear- 

 lanceolate, or lanceolate; spikes, nodding, usually short or interrupted; flowers 



