[Cf. G. wasserpfeffer (from 16th c.).]
1. The acrid plant Polygonum Hydropiper or smartweed. In Lyte also water-pepperwort.
1538. Turner, Libellus, Eupatorium, water peper.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, V. lxvii. 632. This herbe is called in English, Water pepper, or Water-pepperwurt, and of some Curagie.
1635. Swan, Spec. Mundi, VI. iv. (1643), 253. Arsmart, or water Pepper, groweth almost in every waterish plash.
1866. Treas. Bot., 915/1.
2. A book-name for the N.O. Elatinaceæ.
1830. Lindley, Introd. Nat. Syst. Bot., 159. Elatineæ. The Water-Pepper Tribe. Ibid. (1846), Veg. Kingd., 480. Elatinaceæ.—Water-Peppers.
