Prickled-vine smartweed is a scrambling annual from East Asia whose square stems and leaf stalks are lined with tiny, backward-hooked prickles. It grows in Korea, Japan, China, and the Russian Far East, and it is not known to grow wild in the US. In the US, the prickly relatives people usually notice are mile-a-minute weed, an invasive vine, and the native arrowleaf tearthumb.
Appearance
- Growth form
- A vining annual that grows 3–6.5 ft (1–2 m) long, hooking its prickles onto neighboring plants to climb.
- Leaves
- Triangular leaves sit on long stalks attached at the base edge of the blade. The undersides of the veins carry prickles too.
- Flowers
- Small clusters of about 10 petal-less flowers sit at the branch tips. What look like petals are five-lobed , white at the base and pink at the tips.
- Fruit
- A small, dull black, one-seeded fruit ripens around September.
Look-alikes
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- roadsides
- field edges
- streambanks
- woodland edges
- Range
- Native to East Asia: Korea, Japan, China, and the Russian Far East.
- Preferred conditions
- Prefers slightly damp ground along roadsides, vacant lots, and forest edges.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Older books may list it as Polygonum senticosum.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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