Flora of North America species comparison

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Hydrolea spinosa

Hydrolea ovata

spiny false fiddleleaf

hairy hydrolea, ovate false fiddleleaf
Habit Herbs or small shrubs, erect, to 10 dm, usually broadly branched.
Stems

green to brown, densely pubescent, occasionally with few longer or glandular trichomes;

thorns 1 or 2 per node, 5–12 × 0.3–0.8 mm.
Leaf

blades ovate, occasionally orbiculate, 1.5–7 × 1–2.5 cm, base attenuate, acute, or obtuse, margins entire, surfaces pubescent.
Inflorescences

terminal, paniculate, leafy, broadly branching, 25–40-flowered.
Flowers

sepals narrowly lanceolate, 6–9 × 1–2.5 mm, hispid-hirsute, with glandular trichomes;

corolla blue, occasionally white, petals 11–17 × 5–9 mm;

ovary glabrous or puberulent, upper 1/2 often with glandular trichomes;

styles 2, 10–15 mm, glandular-pubescent toward bases.
Capsules

globose, 4.5–5.5 × 4–5.5 mm, upper 1/2 puberulent or glandular-pubescent.
Seeds

cylindric, symmetric, 0.5–0.6 × 0.2–0.3 mm.
2n

= 20.

Hydrolea spinosa

Hydrolea ovata
Phenology Flowering Jun–Sep.
Habitat Edges of sloughs, marshes, and ponds.
Elevation 2–200 m. (0–700 ft.)
Distribution
from USDA
Mexico; Central America; South America; Texas; Asia
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; KY; LA; MO; MS; OK; TN; TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 3 (1 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Hydrolea ovata is much more robust than H. corymbosa, with densely pubescent stems and leaves. Its leaves are ovate, while those of H. corymbosa are lanceolate.

Some forms of Hydrolea spinosa have small, rounded leaves similar to those of H. ovata; however, the stems of H. ovata are only rarely glandular-pubescent, and the styles are much longer than those of H. spinosa.

A number of specimens collected in Louisiana and eastern Texas appear to result from hybridization between Hydrolea ovata and H. uniflora. These are marked by several intermediate characteristics: leaves are ovate-lanceolate and sparsely pubescent; stems and sepals are also pubescent, with the latter sometimes glandular-pubescent; petals are either the same size as in one of the species or intermediate. The putative hybrids generally are extensively branched, with branches from the lower nodes producing a much bushier and more sprawling plant than is typical of either species. Clusters of flowers are borne either at the tips or at the nodes of these lateral branches.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 14. FNA vol. 14.
Parent taxa Hydroleaceae > Hydrolea Hydroleaceae > Hydrolea
Sibling taxa
H. corymbosa, H. ovata, H. quadrivalvis, H. uniflora
H. corymbosa, H. quadrivalvis, H. spinosa, H. uniflora
Subordinate taxa
H. spinosa var. spinosa
Synonyms Nama spinosa H. ovata var. georgiana, Nama ovata
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. ed. 2, 1: 328. (1762) Nuttall ex Choisy: Mém. Soc. Phys. Genève 6: 109, plate 1. (1833)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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