Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Synonyms Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Notes

Scientific Name

Persicaria maculosa Gray

Synonyms

Polygonum persicaria L.

Family

Polygonaceae

Common Names

Jesus plant, lady's thumb, lady's-thumb smartweed, persicaria, red shank, redshank, spotted lady's thumb, spotted lady's-thumb, spotted ladysthumb

Origin

Native to northern and central Asia (i.e. Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan), the Indian Sub-continent (i.e. Nepal), and eastern Asia (i.e. China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia).

Naturalised Distribution

Widely naturalised in southern Australia (i.e. in some parts of eastern New South Wales, in Victoria, in Tasmania, in south-eastern South Australia and in the coastal districts of south-western Western Australia).

Notes

Redshank (Persicaria maculosa) is regarded as an environmental weed in Victoria and it is seen as a potential threat to one or more vegetation formations in this state. It also appears on some local environmental weed lists (e.g. in Knox City and Mornington Peninsula Shire) and has been recorded in conservation areas (e.g. Organ Pipes National Park and Yarra Bend Park) in Victoria.

This species is usually not treated as an environmental weed in other states, where it is mainly seen as a weed of crops, roadsides and disturbed sites. However, it has been recorded growing in disturbed natural vegetation in Western Australia.