Persicaria virginiana

Persicaria virginiana
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Core eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Polygonaceae
Genus:	Persicaria
Species:	P. virginiana
Binomial name
Persicaria virginiana (L.) Gaertn.
Synonyms
Polygonum virginianum Persicaria filiformis Tovara virginiana

Jumpseed (Persicaria virginiana), also called Virginia Knotweed or Woodland Knotweed^[1] is a species of Persicaria (smartweeds), unusual as a shade-tolerant member of a mostly sun-loving genus. Jumpseed is a perennial, named for its seeds which can "jump" several feet when a ripe seedpod is disturbed.

It blooms in midsummer to late summer/early fall. It has a stalk of small white flowers.^[2]

Identification

Like other Persicaria, jumpseed has alternate leaves, with fine-hairy stipular sheaths with bristle-fringed edges which often turn brownish. Flowers, widely spaced along slender stalks, are white to greenish-white, rarely pink-tinged, and fruiting flowers have 2 downward-pointing hook-tipped styles.^[1] It is easily distinguished from most other Persicaria by its much larger, more oval-shaped leaves, although a few species also have large leaves. It sometimes has a chevron-shaped marking on the leaves; often a single plant will have this marking on some leaves but not others.

Cultivars and naturalized populations from cultivation show much greater variation than wild-type plants, sometimes having variagation or have more involved red patterning, and sometimes having red or pink flowers.

Ecology

Jumpseed has a wide native range throughout most of Eastern North America, from Ontario and Quebec, south to Floria, and west to Texas, Nebraska, and Minnesota.^[3]

It naturally occurs in full to partial shade, on riverbanks, woods, cliffs, and rocks.^[4]

Cultivation

Many variegated cultivars exist. The plant prefers medium to moist soil and full sun to part shade.^[5]

References