Himalayan Smartweed seed Polygonum capitatum
LATIN NAME: Persicaria capitata
COMMON NAME: Himalayan Smartweed
The smartweed spreads its round, clustered, rose-pink heads low over the small leaves, and the trailing stems root as they go. The low, spreading, creeping, annual or short-lived perennial plant carries the small, oval, softly hairy, green leaves with the dark chevron marks and the round, dense, clustered, rose-pink or red flower heads through the summer, one of the fine, bright sights of the hanging basket and the ground cover, drawing the bees and the butterflies. The plant is a fine, generous presence of the basket and the border edge, and it is a plant of the open, sunny to lightly shaded, deep, moist, well-drained ground.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
The smartweed is a curious subject of the plant science, and the round heads keep showing up in the work on the creeping ground covers. The way the round, dense, clustered, rose-pink or red flower heads form along the trailing stems has been studied steadily, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the creeping ground covers, the basket plants and the members of the knotweed family. The dark chevron marks on the leaves and the creeping habit have also made it a fine study plant, and the smartweed is a regular subject of the work on the round heads of the warm world.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
The smartweed is a fine, generous plant of the basket and the border edge. The round, dense, clustered, rose-pink or red flower heads open through the summer, one of the fine, bright sights of the hanging basket, drawing the bees and the butterflies, and the trailing stems root as they go, covering the ground with the ease. It is one of the fine choices for the basket, the ground cover and the study collection, and it has been written up in the horticultural and the botanical papers for the round heads and the creeping ways. It is a fine, generous plant of the open, sunny to lightly shaded, deep, moist, well-drained garden.
Give the young plants the moist bed and the light shade, and the round heads will spread in the first season.
To grow the smartweed from seed, scatter the small, brown seeds over the surface of the moist tray, with a light press, keep the tray in a bright, open spot and water gently, then set the young plants out in the open ground or the basket. The seedlings are up within a week or two and grow on fast. With the sun or the light shade and the deep, moist, well-drained ground, the round heads will spread through the summer.
Persicaria capitata seeds
Uses: Medicinal
(Pink knotweed; Pink clover) Attractive low mat-forming herb with masses of pink flowers. Antibacterial herb used in Hmong herbal medicine. Animal studies show that simple water-based extracts of the herb are effective against kidney and bladder infections, helping to stop blood in urine.