Wildflower (forb) · Polygonaceae
Dotted smartweed
Polygonum punctatum · includes its varieties and subspecies
Dotted smartweed is recorded as native to 45 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,538 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Dotted smartweed at a glance
- Native in
- 1,538 counties, across 45 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 10b PLANTS minimum temperature 32°F
- Mature height
- 3.2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 10b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of 32°F; zone 10b winters bottom out at 35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Dotted smartweed is recorded as native to 45 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,538 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,538 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 17 counties
- Arizona 7 counties
- Arkansas 42 counties
- California 42 counties
- Colorado 2 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 62 counties
- Georgia 30 counties
- Idaho 5 counties
- Illinois 101 counties
- Indiana 72 counties
- Iowa 15 counties
- Kansas 70 counties
- Kentucky 64 counties
- Louisiana 63 counties
- Maine 12 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 46 counties
- Minnesota 49 counties
- Mississippi 19 counties
- Missouri 96 counties
- Montana 2 counties
- Nebraska 41 counties
- New Hampshire 7 counties
- New Jersey 19 counties
- New York 46 counties
- North Carolina 76 counties
- North Dakota 1 county
- Ohio 60 counties
- Oklahoma 25 counties
- Oregon 9 counties
- Pennsylvania 62 counties
- Rhode Island 4 counties
- South Carolina 29 counties
- South Dakota 3 counties
- Tennessee 61 counties
- Texas 61 counties
- Vermont 7 counties
- Virginia 91 counties
- Washington 8 counties
- West Virginia 34 counties
- Wisconsin 59 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Annual, Perennial
- Mature height
- 3.2 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Single Crown
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 12 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 6 to 8.7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Medium
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 14 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- 32°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 10b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 110
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Black
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Polygonaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- POPU5
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Polygonum punctatum (PLANTS symbol POPU5), including 2 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources