Polygonum pubescensBlume

bristly smartweed

WFO wfo-0001245277 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

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.

Polygonum pubescens, photographed by Agnes Trekker
fig. a Agnes Trekker, CC0 1.0 / 2021-11-06 / obs. 167885108
Polygonum pubescens, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. b Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 150942338
Polygonum pubescens, photographed by 葉子
fig. c 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 96565660
Polygonum pubescens, photographed by Agnes Trekker
fig. d Agnes Trekker, CC0 1.0 / obs. 167885099
Polygonum pubescens, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. e Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 150942289
Polygonum pubescens, photographed by Agnes Trekker
fig. f Agnes Trekker, CC0 1.0 / obs. 168221265
Polygonum pubescens, photographed by WATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁
fig. g WATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 101880879
Polygonum pubescens, photographed by WATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁
fig. h WATANABE Hitoshi 渡辺仁, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 101880894

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 23 botanical countries

Regions where Polygonum pubescens is native: China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laos, Malaya, Nepal, Pakistan, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya China North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanJapanManchuriaTaiwanAssamBangladeshCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLaosMalayaNepalPakistanSumateraThailandVietnamWest Himalaya KoreaNansei-shoto
Native distribution of Polygonum pubescens, 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
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
Bangladesh BAN
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Malaya MLY
Nepal NEP
Pakistan PAK
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
China North-Central CHN ASIA-TEMPERATE
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Japan JAP
Korea KOR
Manchuria CHM
Nansei-shoto NNS
Taiwan TAI

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 11 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.

  • Persicaria flaccida (Meisn.) Nakai ex Sasaki
  • Persicaria flaccida (Meisn.) H.Gross
  • Persicaria hydropiper subsp. flaccida (Meisn.) Munshi & Javeid
  • Persicaria pubescens (Blume) Hara
  • Polygonum donii Meisn.
  • Polygonum flaccidum Meisn.
  • Polygonum flaccidum var. hispidum (Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don) Hook.f.
  • Polygonum hispidum Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don
  • Polygonum hydropiper var. flaccidum (Meisn.) Steward
  • Polygonum hydropiper var. hispidum (Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don) Steward
  • Polygonum oryzetorum Blume

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 POHI2. 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.