102 POLYGONACEAE (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 
Poljgonum 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 
exico; 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 
Poljgonum Persicaria, L. 
Other English names: Spotted Smartweed, Spotted Knotweed, 
Red-shanks, Heartweed, Peach-leaved Persicary. 
