Smartweed (Persicaria barbata)

Smartweed (Persicaria barbata) is a species of plant in the Polygonaceae, low shrub, erect or creeping stems, elongated leaves, flowers and fruit in panicles, growing in moist or stagnant places on the banks of rivers, swamps, forests and agricultural land.

P. barbata has a cylindrical stem, dark green or red in color, has petiole-like borders forming internodes that allow aerial roots to grow to form separate shoots.

The leaves sit opposite, elongated, slender base, pointed tip, white hair, green upper surface with dark V-shaped markings, a large vein in the middle with many small pinnate veins.

Small flowers in panicles, white, growing in rows on long stalks at the end of the stem, erect and blooming all season. Smartweed grows to form colonies in places close to water or stagnant.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Polygonaceae
Subfamily: Polygonoideae
Tribe: Persicarieae
Subtribe: Persicariinae
Genus: Persicaria
Species: Persicaria barbata

Elephant bell gourd (Trichosanthes tricuspidata)

Elephant bell gourd ( Trichosanthes tricuspidata ) is a plant species in the Cucurbitaceae, stems grow elongated to propagate or climb, many branches, cylindrical in shape and green in color. T. cochinchinensis has stem tips or branches that twist to attach themselves to a support or other plant. It grows to climb to cover a support, usually on another plant, up to several meters and creeps along the ground to reach another support. Arrow-shaped leaves, split base, sharp apex and two wings at an acute angle, have many veins ending at a sharp edge, green and have a long petiole. Single flower is white. The fruit is round to oval, ends with a tail, young green and turns red with maturity, thin skin, thick flesh and reddish yellow, has a short stalk and hangs. The seeds are in the middle of the fruit. Seeds are white, oval and flat. Black coated seeds. Elephant bell gourd grows wild in primary and secondary forests, agricultural land, roadsides, watersheds, especially on slopes, damp a

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