Bacopa |
Bacopa innominata |
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water-hyssop |
tropical water-hyssop |
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Habit | Herbs, annual or perennial, emergent or submerged, sometimes rooting from proximal nodes. | Perennials. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | prostrate or erect, glabrous or slightly hairy. |
prostrate, 8–14 cm, hairy. |
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Leaves | cauline, opposite [whorled]; petiole obscure or absent; blade fleshy (B. monnieri) or not, not leathery, margins entire, crenate, or serrate. |
hairy; blade base ± truncate, margins entire, apex rounded. |
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Inflorescences | axillary, flowers solitary or in pairs; bracts absent. |
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Pedicels | present or absent; bracteoles present [absent]. |
6–10 mm. |
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Flowers | bisexual; sepals 4 or 5, distinct, outer wider than inner, ovate, lanceolate, or oblong, calyx radially or bilaterally symmetric, campanulate; corolla white (sometimes with yellow throat), pink, or violet-blue, radially or bilaterally (B. repens) symmetric, regular or weakly bilabiate, rotate or campanulate, rarely tubular, tube base not spurred or gibbous, throat not densely pilose internally, lobes 4 or 5, abaxial 2 or 3, adaxial 2; stamens 2–4, adnate to corolla, didynamous or equal, filaments glabrous; staminode 0; ovary 2-locular, placentation axile; stigmas peltately flattened and semicapitate. |
sepals 5, ovate to oblong, calyx bilaterally symmetric; corolla white with white throat, 2–5 mm; stamens 2–4, equal. |
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Fruits | capsules, dehiscence septicidal-loculicidal or loculicidal. |
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Seeds | 80–120, brownish black, ellipsoid to cylindric, reticulate, wings absent. |
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× = 14. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bacopa |
Bacopa innominata |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Sep. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Marshy areas, alluvial deposits along streams, wet ditches, muddy shores and banks. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
North America; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; s Europe; Asia; Africa; Indian Ocean Islands (Madagascar); Australia |
FL; GA; MD; NC; SC; VA |
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Discussion | Species ca. 70 (7 in the flora). Bacopa laxiflora (Bentham) Wettstein ex Edwall, native to Central America and South America, has been introduced to Mexico and may be expected in the flora area. Plants of B. laxiflora resemble B. monnieri; they differ by erect stems and acute leaf blade apices. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Bacopa innominata differs from B. rotundifolia in having corollas entirely white; B. rotundifolia has corollas with yellow throats. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 260. | FNA vol. 17, p. 263. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | Conobea innominata, B. cyclophylla, B. stragula, Herpestis rotundifolia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Aublet: Hist. Pl. Guiane 1: 128, plate 49. (1775) — name conserved | (M. Gómez) Alain: Revista Soc. Cub. Bot. 13: 61. (1957) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Web links |