Ludwigia curtissii |
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Curtiss' primrose-willow |
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Habit | Herbs rarely creeping and rooting at nodes, stolons usually absent. |
Stems | erect or ascending at base, very rarely prostrate, unbranched to well branched, branches sometimes very slender, 15–75 cm, glabrous, with slightly raised lines decurrent from leaf axils. |
Leaves | alternate; stipules reddish purple, narrowly ovate, 0.2–0.3 × 0.1–0.3 mm, succulent; petiole winged, 0.3–1.2 cm, blade usually oblanceolate-spatulate to spatulate or oblanceolate, rarely sublinear, 1–2.5(–3) × 0.1–0.8 cm, base attenuate, margins subentire with hydathodal glands, apex acute or mucronate, surfaces glabrous; bracts not reduced. |
Inflorescences | usually not congested, leafy racemes or spikes, flowers solitary in leaf axils; bracteoles attached in opposite pairs near base of ovary, narrowly lanceolate, lanceolate-elliptic, or oblong-linear, 1.5–3.5(–4) × 0.4–0.8 mm, swollen at base, apex acuminate. |
Flowers | sepals ascending, green fading to white near base, ovate-deltate, 1.5–3 × 1.2–2 mm, margins entire, apex narrowly acute or acuminate, surfaces glabrous; petals 0(–3), narrowly elliptic or spatulate, 1–2.5 × 0.5–1 mm, base attenuate, apex obtuse; filaments pale yellow, 0.8–1(–1.3) mm, anthers 0.3–0.6 × 0.3–0.5 mm; pollen shed singly; ovary obovate-obpyramidal, 2–2.5 × 1.8–2.3 mm, glabrous; nectary disc elevated 0.3–0.4 mm on ovary apex, green, 0.9–1.6 mm diam., prominently 4-lobed, glabrous; style pale green, 0.4–0.7 mm, glabrous, stigma pale yellow, subglobose, 0.3–0.4 × 0.2–0.4 mm, not exserted beyond anthers. |
Capsules | obconic, obscurely 4-angled, (2–)2.5–4(–4.7) × 2–3(–3.5) mm, hard-walled, dehiscent by loculicidal slits, pedicel 0.1–0.5 mm. |
Seeds | light brown, ellipsoid, 0.4–0.6 × 0.3–0.4 mm, surface cells transversely elongate, glabrous or, sometimes, with surface wax that mimics appressed hairs. |
2n | = 64. |
Ludwigia curtissii |
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Phenology | Flowering Mar–Nov (year-round). |
Habitat | Pine savannas and flatwoods, marshes, edges of ponds and streams, sandy or peaty swales, limestone prairies, solution pits on limestone. |
Elevation | 0–50 m. (0–200 ft.) |
Distribution |
FL; West Indies (Bahamas) |
Discussion | Ludwigia curtissii is the only octoploid (n = 32) in sect. Isnardia, and is restricted to peninsular Florida and the Bahamas. It and L. simpsonii they are the only members of the section that do not form true stolons; instead they simply sprout new shoots from the base. The two species are similar in many ways and appear to share three genomes (C. I. Peng 1988). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 10. |
Parent taxa | |
Sibling taxa | |
Synonyms | L. spathulifolia |
Name authority | Chapman: Fl. South. U.S. ed. 2, 621. (1883) |
Web links |