Persicaria acuminata(Kunth) M.Gómez

tapertip smartweed

WFO wfo-0000488001 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 4 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 4 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Persicaria acuminata, photographed by alejandrozab
fig. a alejandrozab, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-12-15 / obs. 172636414
Persicaria acuminata, photographed by Hugo Hulsberg
fig. b Hugo Hulsberg, CC0 1.0 / obs. 166305280
Persicaria acuminata, photographed by Edson Luis Fabro Gasperin
fig. c Edson Luis Fabro Gasperin, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 58305126
Persicaria acuminata, photographed by Tomás Tamagno
fig. d Tomás Tamagno, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184694787
Persicaria acuminata, photographed by Tomás Tamagno
fig. e Tomás Tamagno, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184694808
Persicaria acuminata, photographed by Tomás Tamagno
fig. f Tomás Tamagno, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184694825
Persicaria acuminata, photographed by Edson Luis Fabro Gasperin
fig. g Edson Luis Fabro Gasperin, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 58305156
Persicaria acuminata, photographed by Edson Luis Fabro Gasperin
fig. h Edson Luis Fabro Gasperin, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 58305186

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 39 botanical countries

Regions where Persicaria acuminata is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Easter Is., Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Chile Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Desventurados Is., Dominican Republic, Ecuador, French Guiana, Galápagos, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralChile CentralColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoUruguayVenezuela GalápagosLeeward Is.
Native distribution of Persicaria acuminata, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Belize BLZ
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Chile Central CLC
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Desventurados Is. DSV
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
French Guiana FRG
Galápagos GAL
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Uruguay URU
Venezuela VEN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Easter Is. EAS PACIFIC

Not drawn on the map: Easter Is., Desventurados Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 15 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Chulusium acuminatum Raf.
  • Polygonum acuminatum Kunth
  • Polygonum acuminatum var. brachystemon Meisn.
  • Polygonum acuminatum var. capense Meisn.
  • Polygonum acuminatum var. glabrescens Meisn.
  • Polygonum acuminatum var. humboldtii Meisn.
  • Polygonum acuminatum var. microstemon Meisn.
  • Polygonum acuminatum var. setigerum (Wedd.) Meisn.
  • Polygonum acuminatum var. subcordatum Meisn.
  • Polygonum acuminatum var. weddellii Meisn.
  • Polygonum alfredi Pilg.
  • Polygonum bettfreundianum Lindau
  • Polygonum floribundum Wedd.
  • Polygonum guatemalense Gand.
  • Polygonum setigerum Wedd.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol POAC6. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.