Vine · Polygonaceae
Arrowleaf tearthumb
Polygonum sagittatum
Arrowleaf tearthumb is recorded as native to 36 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 946 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Arrowleaf tearthumb at a glance
- Native in
- 946 counties, across 36 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 6a PLANTS minimum temperature −13°F
- Mature height
- 1 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 6a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −13°F; zone 6a winters bottom out at −10°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Arrowleaf tearthumb is recorded as native to 36 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 946 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 946 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 11 counties
- Arkansas 11 counties
- Colorado 1 county
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 3 counties
- Georgia 16 counties
- Illinois 51 counties
- Indiana 61 counties
- Kansas 1 county
- Kentucky 47 counties
- Louisiana 5 counties
- Maine 16 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 30 counties
- Minnesota 42 counties
- Mississippi 3 counties
- Missouri 55 counties
- Nebraska 7 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 20 counties
- New York 52 counties
- North Carolina 73 counties
- North Dakota 1 county
- Ohio 60 counties
- Oklahoma 4 counties
- Pennsylvania 67 counties
- Rhode Island 4 counties
- South Carolina 25 counties
- Tennessee 38 counties
- Texas 10 counties
- Vermont 13 counties
- Virginia 95 counties
- West Virginia 36 counties
- Wisconsin 61 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, Vine
- Duration
- Annual, Perennial
- Mature height
- 1 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Crown
- Shape
- Prostrate
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- 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
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 40 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4 to 8.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Medium
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 6 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −13°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 6a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 110
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Red
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- 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
- POSA5
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 sagittatum (PLANTS symbol POSA5).
- 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