Persicaria hydropiperoides

False waterpepper, False Waterpepper

Family: Polygonaceae · Type: perennial · Native

False waterpepper is a California native perennial found in the California Floristic Province and southern Desert regions in wet banks, shallow water, marshes, and moist prairies at elevations below 1,500 meters. Flowering from June to October, this plant produces pink or white-green flowers in small clusters, each flower bell-shaped and about 2.5 to 4 millimeters long. Growing with decumbent to ascending stems 15 to 100 centimeters tall, it spreads through underground rhizomes and features a distinctive branching habit. Its linear to widely lanceolate leaves are 5 to 25 centimeters long, with brown cylindric stipules and occasionally gland-dotted leaf surfaces. The fruit is a shiny, three-angled structure 1.5 to 3 millimeters long, turning from brown to black when mature.

Habitat: Wet banks, shallow water, marshes, moist prairies

Bloom period: Jun-Oct

Elevation: < 1500 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, DSon

California counties: Ventura, Marin, Contra Costa, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Mariposa, Merced, Orange, Riverside, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sutter, Tuolumne, Yuba, Butte, Fresno, Lake, Los Angeles, Mendocino, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Sonoma, Glenn, Tehama, Siskiyou, Napa, Madera, San Diego, El Dorado, Sacramento, Amador

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.