Persicaria lapathifolia (L.) Delarbre

Pale Smartweed; Dock Leaf Smartweed; Willow Weed

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Pale Smartweed is a native annual wildflower in the Buckwheat family (Polygonaceae). It is found throughout Alabama in wet ditches, marshes, pond edges, and on floodplains. Pale Smartweed grows from two to four feet in height. The leaves are alternate and entire. The ocrea (the stipules fused into a sheath than surrounds the stem) is brown and lacks bristles along its free edge. The inflorescence is pale pink or white and nodding. Pale Smartweed can sometimes become weedy in disturbed areas. Pale Smartweed is the larval food plant for Gray Hairstreak Butterflies (Strymon melinus), and the seed are an important food source for waterfowl. --A. Diamond

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Native OBL (NWPL) G5 (Global Rank)

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