Thunberg's smartweed is a wetland annual in the buckwheat family that grows in thick patches along streams and ditches in East Asia. From late summer into fall it bears small round clusters of white flowers tipped with pink. It isn't known to grow wild in the United States.
Appearance
- Growth form
- Grows about 1–3 ft (30–100 cm) tall, with sprawling stems that root and form colonies. The stems are angled and lined with tiny downward-pointing prickles.
- Leaves
- Alternate, arrowhead-shaped leaves with earlike lobes at the base, about 1.5–4 in (4–10 cm) long.
- Flowers
- Tight heads of tiny flowers at the stem tips. The petal-like parts are actually sepals, white at the base and pink at the tips.
- Fruit
- A small three-sided .
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- stream banks
- ditches
- marshes
- rice paddy edges
- Range
- Native to Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, and the Russian Far East. It isn't known to grow wild in the United States.
Life cycle
- Reproduction
- Besides its normal flowers, it can make closed, self-pollinating flowers on creeping or underground stems.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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