Water Pepper

Water Pepper photos

Family: Dock (Polygonaceae)

Scientific Name:

Persicaria hydropiper (syn. Polygonum hydropiper)

Water Pepper plants
Photo: A J Brown

Other Common Name:

Smartweed

Status:

Cosmopolitan plant which may or may not be native to Australia.

Plant Description:

Erect to ascending, hairless, annual herb from 50-120 cm high with narrow-ovate leaves, 5-12 cm long and 10-25 mm wide. Has a hot peppery taste.

Flowers in elongate-cylindrical, slender clusters, 3-9 mm long and often drooping. Perianth (flower) segments, white, 2.3-3.8 mm long. Fruit a lens-shaped nut, 2-2.2 mm long and dark brown to black.

Habitat:

Semi-aquatic plant of freshwater environments. Grows in water and on wet flats at the edges of rivers, lagoons and lakes and in marshes, swamps and drainage lines. High waterlogging tolerance. Not tolerant of shade.

Region	Salinity Class	Waterlogging Class
Central and Northern, Western, Gippsland	S0	W2, W3, W4

Comments:

Water-pepper belongs to a group of about 10 species which were once treated as part of the genus Polygonum. The four species left in Polygonum are mainly introduced plants which frequent waste ground or weeds of cropping ground and are not associated with waterlogged situations. Other Knotweeds of wide distribution, include the Australian native Spotted Knotweed (Persicaria praetermissa), Creeping Knotweed (Persicaria prostrata), Slender Knotweed (Persicaria decipiens) and Pale Knotweed (Persicaria lapathifolia). The introduced Persicaria or Redshank (P. maculosa) is a common weed of waterbodies in Gippsland. Its flower-spikes and shorter and broader than in Slender Knotweed

Water-pepper photos

Water-pepper flowering shoots Photo: A J Brown	Water-pepper leaf Photo: A J Brown
Stem and leaves of Water-pepper Photo: A J Brown	Water-pepper flowers Photo: A J Brown

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