Cuphea carthagenensis |
Cuphea viscosissima |
|
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Colombian waxweed |
blue waxweed, clammy cuphea, clammy waxweed |
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Habit | Herbs annual, [subshrubs], 1–6 dm, with fibrous roots. | Herbs annual, 1–6 dm, with fibrous roots. |
Stems | erect to decumbent and spreading, usually much-branched, hispid and setose, sometimes also puberulent. |
erect to decumbent, often reddish, much-branched, purple-red glandular-setose, glandular-viscid. |
Leaves | opposite, subsessile or sessile; petiole 0–2 mm; blade broadly elliptic to lanceolate, 12–55 × 5–25 mm, base attenuate. |
|
Racemes | leafy. |
leafy. |
Pedicels | 1–2 mm. |
1–5 mm. |
Flowers | alternate, 1 interpetiolar, with 1–3 flowers on axillary branchlets; floral tube purple adaxially and distally, or green throughout, 4–6 × 1–1.5 mm, glabrous except veins sparsely and coarsely setose; base rounded or a descending spur, 0.5 mm; inner surface glabrous; epicalyx segments thick, often terminated by a bristle; sepals equal; petals 6, deep purple or rose purple, subspatulate, subequal, 1.5–2.5 × 0.5–1 mm; stamens 11, extending 2/3 distance to sinus of sepals. |
alternate, solitary, interpetiolar, sometimes with 1 axillary; floral tube pale abaxially, deep purple-red adaxially, 8–12 × 1–2 mm, purple-red glandular-setose; base rounded or a descending spur, 0.5–1 mm; inner surface glabrous proximally, densely villous distal to stamens; epicalyx segments thick, 2 flanking the adaxialmost sepal terminated by a bristle; sepals unequal, adaxialmost longer; petals 6, purple, oblanceolate, unequal, 4 abaxial petals 2–5 × 0.4–0.6 mm, 2 upper petals 3–6 × 1.5–2.5 mm; stamens (5–)11, reaching or surpassing sinus of sepals. |
Seeds | (4–)6(–9), elliptic to suborbiculate in outline, 1.5–1.7 × 0.2–1.5 mm, margin narrow, flattened, thin. |
7–10, oblong-elliptic in outline, 2.3–2.8 × 1.8–2.3 mm, margin rounded. |
Leavesopposite | , petiolate; petiole (2–)5–15(–20) mm; blade narrowly lanceolate to narrowly ovate, 20–50 × 6–20 mm, base attenuate. |
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2n | = 16. |
= 12. |
Cuphea carthagenensis |
Cuphea viscosissima |
|
Phenology | Flowering late spring–fall. | Flowering summer–fall. |
Habitat | Atlantic and Gulf coastal plain, ditches, margins of moist woods, roadsides, moist open, disturbed areas. | Weedy in pastures, roadsides, ditches, grassy borders, disturbed moist woods along trails. |
Elevation | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) | 0–900 m. (0–3000 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TN; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; ditches; disturbed areas; moist open; roadsides; margins of moist woods; Atlantic and Gulf coastal plain [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Pacific Islands (Fiji, Guam, Hawaii, Philippines), Australia]
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AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WV; ON
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Discussion | The weedy, self-fertilizing Cuphea carthagenensis is the most widely distributed species of the genus and one of the more common in South America. It was first collected in the United States in Florida and North Carolina in the 1920s. Fossilized pollen very similar to pollen of C. carthagenensis and close relatives is known from the late Miocene of Alabama (S. A. Graham 2013). The species flowers year-round in subtropical and tropical regions. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Cuphea viscosissima of the eastern and central United States is the most common and widespread species of Cuphea in the flora area; it is naturalized in Ontario. It is closely related to C. lanceolata W. T. Aiton of eastern and central Mexico, with which it shares the lowest known chromosome number in the genus, 2n = 12. The stamen number is typically 11, but varies in some populations (W. H. Duncan 1950). Cuphea petiolata (Linnaeus) Koehne is an illegitimate name that pertains here. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. |
Parent taxa | Lythraceae > Cuphea | Lythraceae > Cuphea |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Lythrum carthagenense, Balsamona pinto, C. balsamona, Parsonsia pinto | Lythrum petiolatum, Parsonsia petiolata |
Name authority | (Jacquin) J. F. Macbride: Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Ser. 8: 124. (1930) | Jacquin: Hort. Bot. Vindob. 2: 83, plate 177. (1772) |
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