Persicaria decipiens

{{Short description|Species of plant}} {{Speciesbox | image = Persicaria decipiens habit6 Gwydir Wetlands (16570891204).jpg | genus = Persicaria | species = decipiens | authority = (R.Br.) K.L.Wilson |synonyms_ref = <ref name="945550-1" >{{cite web |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:945550-1 |title=''Persicaria decipiens'' (R.Br.) K.L.Wilson |author= |date=2017 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=23 December 2020 }}</ref> |synonyms = {{collapsible list| *''Persicaria minor'' subsp. ''decipiens'' (R.Br.) Soják *''Persicaria salicifolia'' (Brouss. ex Willd.) Assenov *''Persicaria salicifolia'' subsp. ''mambillensis'' Ayodele *''Persicaria serrulata'' (Lag.) Webb & Moq. *''Persicaria serrulata'' var. ''asiatica'' Nakai *''Polygonum abyssinicum'' A.Rich. *''Polygonum acre'' Meisn. *''Polygonum adoense'' Gand. *''Polygonum azoricum'' H.C.Watson ex Meisn. *''Polygonum decipiens'' R.Br. *''Polygonum divaricatum'' Poir. *''Polygonum erythropus'' Dammer *''Polygonum flaccidum'' Roxb. *''Polygonum glabrum'' Roxb. *''Polygonum glabrum'' Roxb. ex D.Don *''Polygonum leuconeuron'' Peter *''Polygonum macrochaetum'' Miq. *''Polygonum minus'' Ten. *''Polygonum minus'' subsp. ''decipiens'' (R.Br.) Danser *''Polygonum rapte'' Ham. ex Hook.f. *''Polygonum rubicundum'' Sol. ex Meisn. *''Polygonum salicifolium'' Brouss. ex Willd. *''Polygonum scabrum'' Poir. *''Polygonum serrulatoides'' H.Lindb. *''Polygonum serrulatum'' Lag. *''Polygonum sinuatum'' R.Br. *''Polygonum strictum'' Meisn. }}}}

'''''Persicaria decipiens''''', commonly known as '''slender knotweed''', is a species of flowering plant native to Australia and Asia.<ref name="floransw">{{NSW Flora Online|genus=Persicaria |species=decipiens|author=Wilson, K.L.|date=2014}}</ref>

''Persicaria decipiens'' is a trailing plant whose stems grow horizontally at first but become more vertical with time,<ref name=Benson2000/> reaching {{convert|30|cm|ft|0|abbr=on}} high. Its narrow elliptic to lanceolate (spear-shaped) leaves are {{convert|5|–|12|cm|in|round=0.5|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|0.5|–|1.3|cm|in|abbr=on}} across.<ref name="floransw"/> The slender pink flower spikes appear from November to June, with a peak in February.<ref name=Benson2000/> Cylindrical in shape, they are not stiff and tend to bend over.<ref name="floransw"/> The plant tends to die back in winter and regenerate after water.<ref name=Benson2000/>

''Persicaria decipiens'' was among the plants collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander on 5 May 1770 at Botany Bay during the first voyage of Captain James Cook.<ref name=wilson88>{{cite journal |authorlink1=Karen Louise Wilson| author=Wilson, Karen L. | journal=Telopea |title=''Polygonum'' sensu lato (Polygonaceae) in Australia | year=1988 | volume=3 |issue =2 |pages=177–82 |doi= 10.7751/telopea19884806 | bibcode=1988Telop...3..177W | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/partpdf/281773| doi-access=free }}</ref> Prolific Scottish botanist Robert Brown described the species as ''Polygonum decipiens'' in his 1810 work ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen''.<ref name="Brown 1810">{{cite book | last=Brown | first=Robert | authorlink=Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773) | year = 1810 | title = Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen | publisher = Richard Taylor and Company | location = London, United Kingdom |language= Latin |page=420 |url = https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2954576}}</ref> It was given its current name by Karen Wilson in 1988 as the broadly defined genus ''Polygonum'' was split into smaller genera.<ref name=wilson88/> Common names include slender knotweed, willow weed and snake root.<ref name="PROTA04">{{cite book|last=Grubben|first=G. J. H. |title=Vegetables |publisher=PROTA|date=2004|series=Plant Resources of Tropical Africa|volume=2|pages=413–14|isbn=9789057821479|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6jrlyOPfr24C&pg=PA414}}</ref> thumb|left|Flowerhead ''P. decipiens'' is found in water and wet soil. It is found across Africa and the Mediterranean,<ref name="PROTA04"/> through southwestern Asia, Malesia and all states of Australia, as well as Norfolk Island, New Zealand and New Caledonia.<ref name="floransw"/> It has become naturalised in Madagascar.<ref name="PROTA04"/>

Likely pollinators of its flowers are insects, including honeybees, native bees, flies, wasps and small butterflies.<ref name=Benson2000>{{cite journal|author1=Benson, Doug|author2=McDougall, Lyn|year=1999|title=Ecology of Sydney Plant Species Part 7a: Dicotyledon families Nyctaginaceae to Primulaceae|journal=Cunninghamia|volume=6|issue=2|pages=402–508 [484]|url=https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/RoyalBotanicGarden/media/RBG/Science/Cunninghamia/Volume%206%20-%201999/Volume-6(2)-1999-Cun6Ben402-509.pdf|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313135801/https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/RoyalBotanicGarden/media/RBG/Science/Cunninghamia/Volume%206%20-%201999/Volume-6%282%29-1999-Cun6Ben402-509.pdf|archivedate=2016-03-13}}</ref>

''Persicaria decipiens'' is not cultivated but is eaten locally in times of famine in Africa.<ref name="PROTA04"/>

==References==

== External links == {{Commons category|Persicaria decipiens}} * [https://www.gbif.org/species/4036197 ''Persicaria decipiens'' occurrence data from GBIF]

Category:Flora of New South Wales Category:Perennial plants decipiens Category:Plants described in 1810 Category:Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)