Spotted Ladysthumb (Persicaria maculosa Gray)

Also classified as Polygonum persicaria L.

The name Persicaria maculosa is a conserved name, meaning it technically violates naming conventions but is accepted for practical reasons. The theoretically correct name would be Persicaria mitis Delarbre (1800) which was the first proposed name when this species was moved from Persicaria into Polygonum, but that name was not widely-known, and later the name Persicaria mitis (Schrank) Assenov was used to refer to a different species native to Eurasia, which does not occur in North America. The name Persicaria maculosa was conserved for this species to avoid confusion with that other species. All authorities we have consulted that classify this species in the Persicaria genus follow this naming convention of conserving these two names.