Jumpseed (Persicaria virginiana) Has Tiny White Flowers and Big Green Leaves

Summary: Jumpseed (Persicaria virginiana), a New World perennial wildflower, has tiny white flowers and big green leaves.

Jumpseed (Persicaria virginiana; syn. Polygonum virginianum), Scotts Run Nature Preserve, Fairfax County, Northern Virginia: Fritz Flohr Reynolds (fritzflohrreynolds), CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr

Jumpseed (Persicaria virginiana) is a New World native perennial wildflower that has tiny white flowers and big green leaves.

Persicaria virginiana’s New World range stretches mostly across central and eastern North America. In Canada, the perennial wildflower occurs natively only in Ontario and Quebec.

In the United States, Persicaria virginiana claims homelands from Florida northward through the Great Lakes states as well as the New England states of New Hampshire and Vermont. The wildflower’s westernmost reach extends through the Great Plains states from Texas through Nebraska.

Persicaria virginiana is a member of the Polygonaceae, known popularly as the buckwheat, knotweed or smartweed family. Its three scientific synonyms are Antenoron virginianum, Polygonum virginianum and Tovara virginiana. Persicaria virginiana is popularly known as jumpseed, Virginia knotweed or woodland knotweed.

Jumpseed favors moist, well-drained soils. Sunlight requirements range from full sun to partial shade.

Stems arise from underground stems, known as rhizomes (Ancient Greek ῥίζα, rhíza, “root”), that are hard and knotty. Rhizomes usually put forth solitary stems but occasionally several stems emerge.

Stems commonly measure a range of 2 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.91 meters) in height. The perennial spreads to widths of 3 to 4 feet (0.91 to 1.21 meters).

Stems display the swollen nodes that characterize species of jumpseed’s original genus, Polygonum (Ancient Greek: πολύς, polús, “many” + γόνυ, gónu, “joint, knee”). Small leaflike outgrowths known as stipules (Latin: stipula, “stalk, straw”) wrap around the stem’s nodes, which are points of attachment for jumpseed’s foliage.

The sheath of stipules is known as an ocrea (Latin: ocrea, “legging”). Jumpseed’s ocreas are brownish in color and fringed with hairlike structures known as cilia.

Big, green leaves are arranged alternately along stems. The oval-shaped leaf blade may measure a length of at least 6 inches (15.24 centimeters). Leaf blades may have widths of 3 or 4 inches (7.62 10.16 centimeters).

Rough uppersides of leaves may be hairless or slightly hairy. Undersides are hairy. The leaf blade has smooth, untoothed edges.

Jumpseed’s flowers may open as early as July. Blooming may continue into October.

Flowering typically occurs as terminal racemes (Latin: racemus, “cluster of grapes”) at stem tops. Occasionally jumpseed puts forth axillary racemes, which emerge from the axils, or junctions, of leafstalks and stems. Racemes comprise widely-spaced arrays, in clusters of one to three along the wand-like axis.

Racemes may measure lengths up to 15.74 inches (40 centimeters). Each flower is tiny, with a diameter of about one-eighth of an inch (0.31 centimeters).

Jumpseed’s tiny perianths are four-parted. The perianth (Ancient Greek: περί, perí, “about, around” + ἄνθος, ánthos, “flower”) is the outer part of the flower and comprises sepals, known collectively as calyx, and petals, known collectively as corolla. Jumpseed’s perianth comprises tepals, which are equivalent to both petals and sepals.

Usually jumpseed’s floral coloring is white. Greenish white or pinkish colors sometimes occur.

Jumpseed’s fruit is a dry, egg-shaped, single-seeded capsule known as an achene (Ancient Greek: ἀ-, a-, “not” + χαίνω, khaínō, “to gape”). Remaining intact at maturity, the brown or dark brown achenes depend upon disturbances, such as decay, jostling or predation, to release their seeds. Persicaria virginiana’s common name of jumpseed recognizes jumping of released seeds as a result of contact with achenes.

Variations that emerge during cultivation account for jumpseed’s success as a parent cultivar. Popular jumpseed cultivars include ‘Compton’s Form,’ ‘Lance Corporal,’ ‘Painters Palette’ and ‘Tovara.’

In addition to prettifying cultivated and natural landscapes, Persicaria virginiana appears in Native American ethnobotany as a pulmonary aid. The Cherokee of the southeastern United States combine jumpseed’s leaves with bark from honey locust trees (Gleditsia triacanthos) in a hot infusion to treat whooping cough.

Jumpseed’s profile of long, loose racemes of tiny white flowers and big green leaves shows well in planned and unplanned landscapes. A patch of jumpseed easily creates an interesting niche in native plant gardens. Popular cultivars are attractive as borders and in container gardening.

closeup of jumpseed (Persicaria virginiana; syn. Polygonum virginianum) flowers, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, Montgomery County, central Maryland: Fritz Flohr Reynolds (fritzflohrreynolds), CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Jumpseed (Persicaria virginiana; syn. Polygonum virginianum), Scotts Run Nature Preserve, Fairfax County, Northern Virginia: Fritz Flohr Reynolds (fritzflohrreynolds), CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/fritzflohrreynolds/7950480110/

closeup of jumpseed (Persicaria virginiana; syn. Polygonum virginianum) flowers, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, Montgomery County, central Maryland: Fritz Flohr Reynolds (fritzflohrreynolds), CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/fritzflohrreynolds/9481246249/

For further information:

Gaertner, Joseph. 1791. "Persicaria virginiana." De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum, volumen alterum: 180. Tubingae [Tübingen, Germany]: Guilielmi Henrici Schrammii [Wilhelm Heinrich Schramm].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/37208169

Godfrey, Robert K.; Jean W. Wooten. Aquatic and Wetland Plants of Southeastern United States: Dicotyledons. Athens GA: University of Georgia Press, 1981.

“Jumpseed (Persicaria virginiana).” Minnesota Seasons > Plants.
Available @ http://www.minnesotaseasons.com/Plants/jumpseed.html

“Jumpseed (Virginia Knotweed) Persicaria virginiana (L.) Gaertn.” Connecticut Botanical Society > Connecticut Plants.
Available @ http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/Plants/view/479

Marriner, Derdriu. “Pennsylvania Smartweed (Persicaria pensylvanica) Has Tiny Pink Flowers.” Earth and Space News. Sunday, June 19, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/06/pennsylvania-smartweed-persicaria.html

“Persicaria virginiana.” Atlas of Florida Plants.
Available @ http://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/Plant.aspx?id=866

“Persicaria virginiana.” Missouri Botanical Garden > Gardens & Gardening > Your Garden > Plant Finder.
Available @ http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=291626

“Persicaria virginiana.” Seeds of Eaden > Ornamental Plants.
Available @ http://www.seedsofeaden.com/ornamental-plants-k7/persicaria-virginiana-b72.html

"Persicaria virginiana (L.) Gaertn." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/50080897

“Persicaria virginiana (Linnaeus).” eFloras > Flora of North America > Flora Taxon.
Available @ http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250060702

“Polygonum virginianum L.” Missouri Plants > White Flowers, Leaves Alternate.”
Available @ http://www.missouriplants.com/Whitealt/Polygonum_virginiam_page.html

“Polygonum virginianum L. jumpseed.” USDA NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) PLANTS Database.
Available @ http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=POVI2