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Photographer: Janice Stiefel
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Family Polygonaceae
Persicaria maculosa Gray
heart's-ease, spotted lady's-thumb
Persicaria: peach-like, the medieval name for knotweed
maculosa: Latin for "spotted" or "mottled"
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| Status: | Introduced - naturalized |
| Plant: | erect to sprawling, annual, up to 32" tall, mostly smooth forb often with many branches; stems not glandular, nodes with a few very short bristles; taprooted |
| Flower: | pink to rose, 5-parted, 1/8" long, petals and petal-like sepals connected at the base; inflorescence 1/2" - 1 1/2" dense, straight, cylindrical, spike-like clusters 1/4"-1/2" thick arching on a stalk jointed at the top; blooms July-Sept. |
| Fruit: | black, smooth, shiny, dry, broadly-oval seed |
| Leaf: | alternate, narrowly lance-like with a dark blotch near the center |
| Habitat: | wet to moist; disturbed sites such as gardens |
| Notes: | similar to P. careyi -glandular-stemmed; P. longistea- hairy nodes |
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