The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

seaside primrose-willow

large-flower primrose-willow, Uruguayan primrose-willow

Habit Herbs, subshrubs, or emergent aquatics, rooting at lower nodes, sometimes woody at base, white pneumatophores 8–10 cm often on submerged stems.
Roots

fibrous or fusiform, sometimes fascicled.

Stems

subterete to scarcely angled, with narrow raised lines or wings decurrent from leaf axils, 30–90 cm, simple or sparsely branched distally, strigillose to sometimes glabrate.

erect or ascending to creeping or floating, terete or sometimes angled distally, 20–300(–450) cm, usually densely branched, sometimes simple, glabrous if floating, or densely villous and viscid throughout, or rarely just on inflorescence.

Leaves

stipules narrowly deltate, 0.05–0.2 × 0.05–0.1 mm;

sessile;

blade ovate proximally, lanceolate to lanceolate-linear distally, (2–)3–8 × 0.3–1.5 cm, base cuneate, margins entire, apex acute, surfaces glabrate to strigillose or hirsute;

bracts usually much reduced, sublinear.

stipules (rarely in clusters of 3), ovate-deltate, 0.6–2 × 0.6–1.5 mm, fleshy, apex subacute, often mucronate;

petiole 0.1–1.1 cm;

blade usually lanceolate to (narrowly) elliptic or oblanceolate, rarely narrowly obovate, (1.7–)3.1–8(–10.5) × 0.5–2(–2.5) cm, chartaceous, viscid, base cuneate or attenuate, margins entire, apex obtuse or acute, always glandular-mucronate, surfaces densely villous, sometimes less dense adaxially, distal leaves more pubescent than proximal ones;

bracts scarcely reduced.

Inflorescences

sparse racemes, flowers solitary in leaf axils;

bracteoles attached in subopposite pairs on distal 1/3 of pedicel, lanceolate-linear, 0.7–3.2(–5) × 0.2–0.5 mm, margins entire, apex acute, surfaces strigillose.

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

bracteoles narrowly to broadly obovate, 1–1.2 × 0.7–0.8 mm, succulent, apex acute, oppositely attached at ovary base.

Flowers

sepals often spreading, ovate-deltate, (4.5–)5.5–8(–9) × 3–5 mm, margins entire, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces strigillose;

petals cordate, 9–12 × 8–10 mm, base attenuate, apex emarginate;

filaments yellow, awl-shaped, 1.9–3.2 mm, anthers 1.2–2.5 × 0.4–0.7 mm;

ovary subcuboid or globose, 3–4.5 × 3–4 mm;

nectary disc elevated, domed, 0.9–1.3 mm diam., prominently 4-lobed, ringed with sparse, spreading hairs;

style 1.5–3.3 mm, glabrous, stigma capitate to hemispherical, 0.6–1.2 × 1.4–1.9 mm, shallowly 4-lobed, not exserted beyond anthers.

sepals usually deciduous, not persistent on capsule, lanceolate, 6–12(–16) × 2–4 mm, chartaceous, apex acute, surfaces densely villous;

petals yellow, fan-shaped, (12–)16–20(–26) × 11–16(–21) mm, apex rounded, usually emarginate, rarely mucronate;

stamens 10(or 12), in 2 unequal series, yellow, filaments reflexed, shorter ones (2.8–)3.8–5.3 mm, longer ones (3.7–)6–6.5 mm, anthers oblong, 1–2.5 × (0.6–)0.8–1.2 mm;

ovary subcylindric, terete, 6–12 × 1.5–2.5 mm, apex thickened, densely villous;

nectary disc slightly raised on ovary apex, yellow, 1.5–2.5 mm diam., lobed, ringed with villous hairs;

style yellow, 4.7–6.7(–8) mm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent near base, stigma subcapitate-globose, 1–1.3 × 1.6–2.5 mm, usually exserted beyond anthers.

Capsules

subcuboid to squarish globose, 4–7 ×4–5 mm, 4-angled, often also 4-winged, wings 0.3–1.2 mm wide, pedicel 5–17 mm.

subcylindric, terete, straight or curved, (11–)14–25 × 3–4 mm, with thick woody walls, irregularly and tardily dehiscent, villous-viscid, pedicel 13–25(–27) mm.

Seeds

light brown, oblong to reniform, 0.4–0.6 ×0.2–0.4 mm, surface cells elongate transversely to seed length, except may be parallel to seed length near raphe.

embedded in wedge-shaped piece of endocarp, 0.8–1 × 0.8–0.9 mm.

2n

= 16.

= 48.

Ludwigia maritima

Ludwigia grandiflora

Phenology Flowering summer. Flowering summer.
Habitat Damp, sandy, or peaty habitats, roadside ditches, margins of bogs or fields, usually within 75 miles of sea coast. Wet places, along slow-moving rivers, streams, canals, ditches, often growing into main channel as aquatic weed.
Elevation 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) 0–200[–1200] m. (0–700[–3900] ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; CA; FL; GA; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OK; OR; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WA; WV; Central America (Guatemala); South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Ludwigia grandiflora occurs in two disjunct areas: the southeastern United States on the coastal plain of southern South Carolina, Georgia, northern Florida, Louisiana, west to central Texas, and recently in southern California (P. C. Hoch and B. J. Grewell 2012) and Oregon; and central South America from south of the Amazon basin of Brazil and Bolivia where it is very scattered, to Uruguay, northeastern Argentina, and Paraguay where it is very frequent. It has been collected three times in Guatemala and twice in Missouri, although it is not clearly established in either region. It usually grows below 200 m elevation, but in Guatemala and in Santa Catarina, Brazil (Smith & , MO), it has been collected as high as Klein 133831200 m elevation. Populations of L. grandiflora in the United States are fairly variable, although not as much as in South American populations.

As noted by Greuter and Burdet, the publication of Jussiaea grandiflora Ruíz & Pavon, which was a synonym of J. peruviana, occurred in 1830, not in 1802 as reported (P. A. Munz 1942; P. H. Raven 1963[1964]). Therefore, J. grandiflora Michaux in 1803 is legitimate, and J. grandiflora Ruíz & Pavon is an illegitimate homonym.

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

Source FNA vol. 10. FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Onagraceae > subfam. Ludwigioideae > Ludwigia > sect. Ludwigia Onagraceae > subfam. Ludwigioideae > Ludwigia > sect. Jussiaea
Sibling taxa
L. alata, L. alternifolia, L. arcuata, L. bonariensis, L. brevipes, L. curtissii, L. decurrens, L. erecta, L. glandulosa, L. grandiflora, L. hexapetala, L. hirtella, L. lanceolata, L. leptocarpa, L. linearis, L. linifolia, 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. 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
Synonyms Jussiaea grandiflora, J. repens var. grandiflora, J. repens var. hispida, J. stenophylla, J. stuckertii, J. uruguayensis, L. clavellina var. grandiflora, L. uruguayensis
Name authority R. M. Harper: Torreya 4: 163, fig. 2. (1904) (Michaux) Greuter & Burdet: Willdenowia 16: 448. (1987)
Web links