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Curtiss' primrose-willow

false loosestrife, large-flower primrose-willow, primrose willow, six petal water primrose, Uruguayan primrose-willow, water primrose

Habit Herbs rarely creeping and rooting at nodes, stolons usually absent. Herbs, subshrubs, or emergent aquatics, adventitious roots sometimes forming a thick mass 10–23 cm at submerged nodes, sometimes woody at base, white pneumatophores 5–10 cm often on submerged stems.
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.

floating or creeping and ascending to erect, terete, 20–200(–400) cm, simple to densely branched apically, glabrous (floating) or sparsely to densely villous (emergent), sometimes villous only on inflorescence.

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.

stipules ovate or deltate, 0.7–2 × 0.5–1.1 mm, not succulent, apex subacute, mucronate;

petiole flattened, 0.5–2(–2.5) cm;

blade narrowly oblanceolate, narrowly elliptic, or lanceolate to obovate or spatulate, (1.5–)4.2–10.7(–13.5) × (0.5–)0.8–3 cm, chartaceous, base cuneate or attenuate, margins entire, apex acute to obtuse, rounded or truncate, sometimes mucronate, surfaces not shiny, usually glabrous, sometimes villous on petiole and veins or throughout;

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.

emergent stems sometimes in leafy racemes, sometimes reflexed, flowers solitary in leaf axils;

bracteoles obovate to narrowly obovate, 1–1.8 × 0.7–0.8 mm, apex acute or acuminate, attached on distal 1/2 of pedicel or at ovary base.

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.

sepals ovate-deltate or lanceolate-deltate, (8–)12–19 × 2–5 mm, chartaceous, margins entire, apex acuminate, surfaces ± densely villous;

petals bright yellow, sometimes with orange base, fan-shaped, (15–)20–30 × (12–)16–25 mm, apex emarginate or mucronate;

stamens 10(or 12), in 2 unequal series, yellow, filaments recurved, shorter ones (1.6–)2.3–5.2 mm, longer ones (3.1–)3.6–7.5 mm, anthers oblong, (1.2–)1.7–4 × 1–1.5 mm;

ovary subcylindric, terete, 10–18 × 2–3 mm, apex ± broadened, glabrous or sparsely to densely villous;

nectary disc slightly raised on ovary apex, yellowish green, 2–4 mm diam., lobed, glabrous or ringed with white hairs;

style yellow, 6–10 mm, glabrous, stigma subcapitate-globose, 0.5–1.5 × 1.5–2.5 mm, often 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.

cylindric or subclavate, terete, sometimes curved, (12–)16–24(–30)× 2.5–4 mm, with thick woody walls, irregularly and tardily dehiscent, pedicel (9–)13–25(–85) 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.

embedded in wedge-shaped piece of endocarp, 0.8–1 × 0.8–1 mm.

2n

= 64.

= 80.

Ludwigia curtissii

Ludwigia hexapetala

Phenology Flowering Mar–Nov (year-round). Flowering spring–late fall.
Habitat Pine savannas and flatwoods, marshes, edges of ponds and streams, sandy or peaty swales, limestone prairies, solution pits on limestone. Wet places, along slow-moving rivers, streams, canals, ditches, often growing into main channel as aquatic weed.
Elevation 0–50 m. (0–200 ft.) 0–200[–2600] m. (0–700[–8500] ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; West Indies (Bahamas)
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; CA; FL; GA; KY; LA; MS; NC; NY; OR; PA; SC; TN; WA; Central America (Costa Rica); South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay) [Introduced in w Europe (Belgium, France, Spain)]
[WildflowerSearch map]
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.)

Ludwigia hexapetala (2n = 80) was formerly included with L. grandiflora (2n = 48) in L. uruguayensis (Cambessèdes) H. Hara, and some authors (G. L. Nesom and J. T. Kartesz 2000) still consider them to be a single species. The small but consistent morphological differences and different ploidy levels argue for keeping them distinct at the species level.

Fernald described Jussiaea michauxiana (1944), since he thought that J. grandiflora Michaux (1803) was a homonym (not J. grandiflora Ruíz & Pavon). However, it was later determined that the volume containing the Ruíz & Pavon name was published in 1830 (not 1802) making the name by Michaux valid and legitimate, and the name by Fernald an illegitimate substitution. Plants now known as Ludwigia hexapetala were included in the circumscription of L. uruguayensis (Cambessèdes) H. Hara (based on J. uruguayensis Cambessèdes) by P. H. Raven (1963[1964]) and P. A. Munz (1965).

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

Source FNA vol. 10. FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Onagraceae > subfam. Ludwigioideae > Ludwigia > sect. Isnardia Onagraceae > subfam. Ludwigioideae > Ludwigia > sect. Jussiaea
Sibling taxa
L. alata, L. alternifolia, L. arcuata, L. bonariensis, L. brevipes, L. decurrens, L. erecta, L. glandulosa, L. grandiflora, L. hexapetala, L. hirtella, L. lanceolata, L. leptocarpa, L. linearis, L. linifolia, L. maritima, L. microcarpa, L. octovalvis, L. palustris, L. peploides, L. peruviana, L. pilosa, L. polycarpa, L. ravenii, L. repens, L. simpsonii, L. spathulata, L. sphaerocarpa, L. suffruticosa, L. virgata
L. alata, L. alternifolia, L. arcuata, L. bonariensis, L. brevipes, L. curtissii, L. decurrens, L. erecta, L. glandulosa, L. grandiflora, L. hirtella, L. lanceolata, L. leptocarpa, L. linearis, L. linifolia, L. maritima, L. microcarpa, L. octovalvis, L. palustris, L. peploides, L. peruviana, L. pilosa, L. polycarpa, L. ravenii, L. repens, L. simpsonii, L. spathulata, L. sphaerocarpa, L. suffruticosa, L. virgata
Synonyms L. spathulifolia Jussiaeahexapetala hooker, J. repens var. major, L. grandiflora subsp. hexapetala, L. grandiflora var. hexapetala, L. uruguayensis var. major
Name authority Chapman: Fl. South. U.S. ed. 2, 621. (1883) (Hooker & Arnott) Zardini, H. Y. Gu & P. H. Raven: Syst. Bot. 16: 243. (1991)
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