swamp smartweed
Polygonum hydropiperoides · Polygonaceae
swamp smartweed (Polygonum hydropiperoides) is a perennial herbaceous plant in the Polygonaceae family. It is native to North America. USDA records it as hardy in zone 10 and warmer, down to about 32°F.
At a glance
| Type | forb-herb USDA |
|---|---|
| Lifecycle | perennial USDA |
| Native status | native USDA |
| Light | full-sun USDA |
| Water need | medium USDA |
| Growth rate | slow USDA |
| Soil pH | 4.5–8.8 USDA |
| Flower color | Green USDA |
| Hardiness zones | 10 and warmer USDA |
| Guild layer | understory Derived |
| Nursery availability | Routinely Available USDA |
USDA quoted from the USDA PLANTS database · Derived computed by a fixed rule from those columns. No value on this page is estimated.
Growing conditions
It needs full sun. USDA rates it as having moderate water needs. It is recorded on soils from pH 4.5 to 8.8 — a broad range that spans acidic through mildly alkaline ground. Its cold limit is zone 10; USDA publishes no warm-end limit, so gardeners in warmer zones should check local heat tolerance separately.
Size and growth
It grows slowly, which matters when you are timing a planting around the layers above it.
Role in a guild
Understory. In a layered planting this is the layer beneath the canopy, tall enough to hold structure but shaded from above. We derive the layer from the plant's growth habit and mature height using a fixed rule, so the same inputs always produce the same layer.
Tags
Related plants
Others in Polygonum
- water knotweed Polygonum amphibium
- meadow bistort Polygonum bistorta
- American bistort Polygonum bistortoides
- Davis' knotweed Polygonum davisiae
Similar role and hardiness
- jewelweed Impatiens capensis
- pale touch-me-not Impatiens pallida
- garden tomato Solanum lycopersicum
- corn Zea mays
- annual wildrice Zizania aquatica
Where this data comes from
Every value on this page comes from the USDA PLANTS database record for symbol POHY2, or is computed from those values by a fixed rule. Nothing here is estimated or model-generated. Where USDA publishes no value, this page omits the claim rather than filling the gap.
commercial_availability— quoted from USDA PLANTSduration— quoted from USDA PLANTSflower_color— quoted from USDA PLANTSgrowth_habit— quoted from USDA PLANTSgrowth_rate— quoted from USDA PLANTSguild_role— derived by rule from USDA columnsmoisture— quoted from USDA PLANTSnative_status— quoted from USDA PLANTSnitrogen_fixer— quoted from USDA PLANTSpet_safe— quoted from USDA PLANTSph_max— quoted from USDA PLANTSph_min— quoted from USDA PLANTSshade_tolerance— quoted from USDA PLANTStemperature_min_f— quoted from USDA PLANTSzone_min— quoted from USDA PLANTS
Read our full data sources and methodology.
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