Persicaria capitata

(Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don) H. Gross

Eastern knotweed

PolygonaceaeFruitLeavesFlowers

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What to Eat

Edible parts: Flowers, Leaves, Fruit

The flower spikes are eaten raw and have a sweet-sour taste. The young leaves are eaten as a vegetable, typically in soup. The ripe fruit are eaten, especially by children.

Where to Find It

It is a subtropical plant. It can grow in shade and in dry or moist soil. In China it grows between 600-3,500 m above sea level. In Vietnam it grows between 1,300-1,600 m above sea level. In Sichuan and Yunnan.

Asia, Australia, Bhutan, Brazil, China, Hawaii, Himalayas*, India, Indochina, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, North America, Northeastern India, Pacific, SE Asia, Sikkim, Sri Lanka, St Helena, Taiwan, Tasmania, Thailand, USA, Vietnam,

Countries: United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Antigua & Barbuda, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Brunei, Brazil, Bahamas, Bhutan, Belize, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Micronesia, Grenada, Georgia, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Indonesia, Israel, India, Iraq, Iran, Jamaica, Jordan, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Kiribati, St Kitts & Nevis, North Korea, South Korea, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Laos, Lebanon, St Lucia, Sri Lanka, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Mongolia, Maldives, Mexico, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Nepal, Nauru, New Zealand, Oman, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Palau, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, Singapore, El Salvador, Syria, Thailand, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tonga, Turkey, Trinidad & Tobago, Tuvalu, Taiwan, United States, Uzbekistan, St Vincent, Vietnam, Vanuatu, Samoa, Yemen

How to Identify

A herb. It grows along the ground or curves upwards. It keeps growing from year to year. It forms mats. The has glandular hairs. The leaves do not have stalks. The leaf blades are broadly oval and 2-5 cm long. They are green and taper to the base and tip. The central vein is red. The flowers are in round heads. The flowers are pink. The nut is 3 angled. It is dull black.

How to Grow

Plants can be grown by seed or stem cuttings.

Medicinal Uses

The juice of the plant is taken as a treatment for stomach disorders. A paste made from the plant is applied as a poultice on boils, wounds Aqueous or ethanolic extracts of the plant possess antibacterial, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, hypothermia, diuretic, and anti-oxidative activities. The plant has been widely used, with considerable therapeutic efficacy, in the treatment of various urologic disorders including urinary calculus and urinary tract infections. A number of drugs based on this plant (e.g., Relinqing Granule and Milin Capsule) have been approved by the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration. Chemical investigations have shown the presence of triterpenoids, steroids, fatty acid esters, flavonoids, gallic acid and its analogues, as well as other phenolic compounds.

Other Uses

The plant makes a dense mat of growth and is an excellent ground cover.

Wikipedia

Source ↗

Persicaria capitata, the pink-headed persicaria, pinkhead smartweed, pink knotweed, Japanese knotweed, or pink bubble persicaria, is an Asian species of plants in the genus Persicaria within the Polygonaceae (US: buckwheat) family. It is native to Asia (China, South Asia, Indochina) and grown as an ornamental in other countries. It has become naturalized in Australia, South Africa and a few scattered locations in the Americas.

Other Information

The ripe fruit are especially eaten by children.

Names & Synonyms

Babing kaling, Kaflya, Nghe dau, Niaorla, Ratnaulo, Ratneulo, Sambondom-bong, Vankaphal

Cephalophilon capitatum (Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don) TzvelevPolygonum capitatum Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don

References (9)

Flora of China @ efloras.org Volume 5 (As Polygonum capitatum)
Geng, Y., et al, 2016, Traditional knowledge and its transmission of wild edibles used by the Naxi in Baidi Village, northwest Yunnan province. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 12:10 (As Polygonum capitatum)
Ghorbani, A., et al, 2012, A comparison of the wild food plant use knowledge of ethnic minorities in Naban River Watershed Nature Reserve, Yunnan, SW China. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine; 8:17 (As Polygonum capitatum)
Luo, B., et al, 2019, Wild edible plants collected by Hani from terraced rice paddy agroecosystem in Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan, China. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 15:56 (As Polygonum capitatum)
Negi, K.S., 1988, Some little known wild edible plants of U.P. Hills. J. Econ. Tax. Bot. Vol. 12 No. 2 pp 345-360 (As Polygonum capitatum)
Prodr. fl. nepal. 73. 1825 (As Polygonum capitatum)
Singh, B., et al, 2012, Wild edible plants used by Garo tribes of Nokrek Biosphere Reserve in Meghalaya, India. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge. 11(1) pp 166-171 (As Polygonum capitatum)
Staples, G.W. and Herbst, D.R., 2005, A tropical Garden Flora. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu, Hawaii. p 460 (As Polygonum capitatum)
Taram, M., et al, 2018, Wild Food Plant Resources of Komkar Adi Tribe of Upper Siang District in Arunachal Pradesh, India. Bulletin of Arunachal Forest Research, Vol. 33(2), 27-35