Water Smartweed
Persicaria amphibia
Pollinator plant

(c) Kevin Krebs, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Kevin Krebs
Growing it
| When | Flowers June to September; fruits August to September |
|---|---|
| Type | wildflower |
| Sun | Full sun, partial shade |
| Water | Medium, high |
| Soil | pH 5.5–8 |
| Hardiness | zone 2–9 |
| Mature height | 0.5 m |
| Mature spread | 0.75 m |
| Spacing | 0.5 m |
| Years to maturity | 2 |
| Bloom | Jun–Sep |
| Flower colour | Pink not verified, a genus-level estimate |
| In bloom | June July August September |
| Fruit | Aug–Sep |
| Native to | AB, SK |
lance-shaped leaves about 12 cm long
Where it has been recorded
Which ecoregions the records fall in
- Aspen Parkland central AB / SK: 233 records, high confidence
- Moist Mixed Grassland south AB / SK: 75 records, high confidence
- Mixed Grassland south AB / SK: 69 records, high confidence
- Northern Continental Divide south AB: 58 records, high confidence
- Boreal Transition central AB / SK: 55 records, high confidence
- Mid-Boreal Uplands central AB / SK: 49 records, high confidence
- Western Alberta Upland central AB: 34 records, high confidence
- Fescue Grassland south AB: 24 records, high confidence
- Cypress Upland south AB / SK: 21 records, high confidence
- Eastern Continental Ranges central AB: 21 records, high confidence
- Peace Lowland north AB: 20 records, high confidence
- Slave River Lowland north AB: 15 records, medium confidence
- Wabasca Lowland north AB: 7 records, low confidence
- Western Boreal central AB: 6 records, low confidence
- Churchill River Upland north SK: 3 records, low confidence
- Hay River Lowland north AB: 3 records, low confidence
- Northern Alberta Uplands north AB: 3 records, low confidence
These are counts of records collected somewhere in the region, which is the resolution of the evidence: the map above shows where inside it. A region with 3 records is not the same claim as one with three hundred, so the count travels with the region. A region missing from this list means nobody has recorded it there, which is not the same as the plant being absent. Records within 900 m of a border count for neither side, because the border is not drawn finely enough to say which one they are on. Source: GBIF occurrence search + PRESERVED_SPECIMEN pass, retrieved 2026-08-24. Boundaries digitised from the National Ecological Framework for Canada v2.2 (Ecological Stratification Working Group 1995), simplified to about 900 m for display: an outline is accurate to roughly a kilometre, not to the metre. How these counts are made.
See every observation, live and current, on GBIF or iNaturalist.
Documented animals
22 documented relationships.
nectar for
- Aerial Yellowjacket Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
- American Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
- Brown-belted Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
- Eupeodes americanus Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
- Gray Hairstreak Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
- Melissodes bimaculatus Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
- Monarch Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
- Painted Lady Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
- Sceliphron caementarium Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
- Silvery Blue Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
- Two-ranked Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
- Western Bumble Bee Specimen records from www.bumblebeewatch.org
pollen for
- Augochlorella aurata Oppenheimer et al. 2021
- Ceratina calcarata Oppenheimer et al. 2021
- Chalcosyrphus nemorum Robertson 1929
- Colletes compactus Robertson 1929
- Cynomya cadaverina Robertson 1929
- Lasioglossum cressonii Robertson 1929
- Megachile texana Robertson 1929
- Morellia micans Robertson 1929
- Police Car Moth Clements & F. L. Long 1923
- Scathophaga furcata Robertson 1929
Also worth knowing
Safety
Toxicity not assessed, absence of a warning is not a guarantee of safety
Edible parts
Seeds?
Buying it
About $8–$16 per plant (estimate), usually from a native-plant nursery. Estimate (herb default); AB retail as of 2026
Where these numbers came from
- Flower detail: not verified, a genus-level estimate