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Marshpepper Smartweed

Persicaria hydropiper

In the Carolinas and Georgia, found in wet pastures, barnyards, ditches. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition What its natural habitat tells you

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Not native

Not native to Arkansas. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 76%

Height
About 1.6 feet
Light
Full sun, Partial shade
Soil moisture
Moist to standing water
See native alternatives

Plant this instead

Choose your county to list local plants first.

  • Pennsylvania Smartweed
    Persicaria pensylvanica

    Sun: Full sun. Soil: Usually moist. Flowers: Pink, red or white.

    Similar growth form, evergreen or deciduous, bloom season

  • Field Mint
    Mentha arvensis

    Sun: Full to part sun. Soil: Average to wet. Flowers: White.

    Similar growth form, height, evergreen or deciduous

  • Purplehead Sneezeweed
    Helenium flexuosum

    Sun: Full sun. Soil: Moist to standing water. Flowers: Brown/copper or purple.

    Similar growth form, height, evergreen or deciduous

Refine these alternatives in the finder

Check a whole list of plants

At a glance

Life cycle
Annual
Leaves
Deciduous
Bloom
May to December
Fruiting season
Summer to fall

Not yet recorded · Spread

Recorded in 4 Arkansas counties.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 2

Wet meadows

Open, wet, grassy or sedgy ground that is not a bog.

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

All habitats

Also found with this plant

Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Arkansas. Shared habitat, not food. 44 animals.

Widespread birds also seen here (75)

Found in many habitats here, so not listed above.

All wildlife of Arkansas

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

43CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AR

Genus host records with ranges including AR · Polygonum

  • Achyra rantalisGarden Webworm Moth
  • Acronicta insularisHenry's Marsh Moth, Cattail Caterpillar
  • Acronicta oblinitaSmeared Dagger
  • Anticlea multiferataMany-Lined Carpet
  • Apantesis argeArge Tiger Moth
  • Apantesis naisNais Tiger Moth
  • Archips semiferanusOak Leafroller Moth
  • Calothysanis amaturariaCross-Lined Wave
  • Chionodes discoocellellaEyeringed Chionodes
  • Costaconvexa centrostrigariaBent-Lined Carpet
Show all 43
  • Dypterygia rozmaniAmerican Bird's-Wing
  • Elophila icciusalisPondside Pyralid, Pondside Crambid
  • Elophila obliteralisWaterlily Leafcutter Moth
  • Emmelina monodactylaMorning-Glory Plume Moth
  • Epiblema otiosanaBidens Borer Moth
  • Eusarca confusariaConfused Eusarca
  • Feltia subterraneaSubterranean Dart, Granulate Cutworm
  • Haematopis gratariaChickweed Geometer
  • Helicoverpa zeaCorn Earworm Moth
  • Homophoberia apicosaBlack Wedge-Spot, Smartweed Groundling
  • Hyles lineataWhite-Lined Sphinx
  • Hypena scabraGreen Cloverworm Bomolocha, Black Snout
  • Maliattha synochitisBlack-Dotted Lithacodia, Black-Dotted Glyph, Brass-Dotted Grass Moth
  • Melanchra pictaPainted Arches, Zebra Caterpillar Moth
  • Melanolophia canadariaCanadian Melanolphia, Variable Redmarked Looper
  • Metarranthis duariaRuddy Metarranthis
  • Nephelodes miniansBronzed Cutworm
  • Nomophila nearcticaLucerne Moth, American Celery Webworm
  • Orthonama obstipataThe Gem
  • Ostrinia obumbratalisSmartweed Borer
  • Ostrinia penitalisAmerican Lotus Borer, Lily Moth
  • Parapoynx obscuralisObscure Pondweed Moth
  • Patania silicalisHerbivorous Patania, Herbivorous Pleuroptya
  • Prochoerodes lineolaLarge Maple Spanworm Moth
  • Pseudeustrotia carneolaPink-Barred Lithacodia, Pink-Barred Pseudeustrotia
  • Pyrrhia exprimensPurple-Lined Sallow, Purple-Lined Sun Moth
  • Saucrobotys futilalisDogbane Saucrobotys
  • Schinia spinosaeSpinose Flower Moth
  • Scopula limboundataLarge Lace-Border
  • Spilosoma congruaAgreeable Tiger Moth
  • Spilosoma virginicaVirginian Tiger Moth, Yellow Woolybear Moth, Yellow Bear
  • Strymon melinusGray Hairstreak
  • Tharsalea hyllusBronze Copper
Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
15BirdsRecorded eating Persicaria in Arkansas

Diet records by plant genus, from studies across North America. Not a record from this state. Birds whose range includes Arkansas, most records first.

Show all 15
Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab)

Direct food only. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening

Birds that eat Persicaria 15

Diet records by plant genus, from studies across North America. Not a record from this state. Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab), CC0 1.0.

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family
Polygonaceae
Flower color
Green or white
Growth rate
Rapid
Growth habit
Single crown
Foliage color
Green
Fruit begins
Summer
Fruit ends
Fall

Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.

Growing sources and scope
Also known as

Marsh Pepper Smartweed; Polygonum hydropiper; knotweed

Conservation status

Arkansas rankSNA
Global rankGNR
AR statusNot verified
Federal statusNot verified

Conservation source Global and federal source

Sources