Ludwigia octovalvis |
Ludwigia polycarpa |
|
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Mexican primrose-willow |
false loosestrife, many-fruit water-primrose, manyfruit primrose-willow |
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Habit | Herbs (robust)or shrubs, herbs tap-rooted, often woody at base, with peeling bark. | Herbs slender, with well-developed aerenchyma on submerged stems, forming stolons 2.5–15(–22) cm, 1–2.3 mm thick, well branched. |
Stems | erect to spreading, terete or sometimes ridged, 60–250(–400) cm, densely branched, densely villous to glabrate, especially near base. |
erect or ascending, slightly ridged, well branched, (10–)25–60(–85) cm, glabrate with raised ± strigillose lines decurrent from leaf axils. |
Leaves | stipules deltate, 0.5–0.8 × 0.6–0.7 mm, fleshy; petiole 0–1 cm; blade linear to oblong or oblanceolate, sometimes narrowly ovate, 0.7–14.5 × 0.1–4 cm, base tapered, margins entire, apex acute to acuminate, surfaces ± densely villous or strigillose; bracts not or scarcely reduced. |
alternate; stipules narrowly to broadly ovate, 0.1–0.4 × 0.1–0.3 mm; stolons: leaves often clustered near apex of stolon, petiole 0–0.5 cm, blade narrowly elliptic or oblanceolate, 0.8–2(–3.2) × 0.2–0.8(–1.2) cm, base attenuate, margins entire or remotely denticulate, apex acute, surfaces glabrous; stems: petiole winged, 0.1–1 cm, blade very narrowly oblong-elliptic, 3.5–11 × 0.4–1(–1.7) cm, base very narrowly cuneate or long-attenuate, margins entire and densely, minutely papillose-serrulate with obscure hydathodal glands, apex narrowly acute or acuminate, surfaces glabrous; bracts not much reduced. |
Inflorescences | open, leafy racemes, flowers solitary in axils, presentation often radial; bracteoles ovate, 3–8 × 1.4–4 mm, apex acuminate, attached near base of ovary. |
elongated, leafy spikes, flowers solitary in leaf axils, sometimes borne almost to base of stems; bracteoles attached 0.5–2.5(–3) mm distal to base of ovary, linear-lanceolate, 3.5–6.5(–8) × 0. |
Flowers | sepals lanceolate to ovate, (6–)8–13 × 3–7 mm, apex acuminate, surfaces strigillose adaxially; petals bright yellow, fan-shaped, (5–)10–20 × 5–20 mm, apex sometimes shallowly notched; stamens 8 in 2 subequal series, yellowish white, filaments spreading, 4–6 mm, anthers oblong, 2.5–5 × 1–2 mm; pollen shed in tetrads or sometimes polyads; ovary cylindric, 4-angled, sometimes slightly twisted, 8–22 × 1–3 mm; nectary disc elevated 0.4–0.5 mm on ovary apex, 1–2.4 mm diam., with 4 white-pubescent sunken lobes opposite petals; style 2.5–3.5 mm, stigma capitate-globose, 1.8–3.5 × 2.5–3.5 mm, surrounded by anthers and pollen shed directly on it. |
sepals spreading horizontally with reflexed tips, pale green, narrowly ovate-deltate, 2.5–4.5 × 1.5–3.2 mm, margins entire, minutely papillose-serrulate, apex elongate-acuminate, surfaces glabrous; petals 0; filaments yellowish green, 0.7–1.5 mm, base dilated, anthers 0.5–0.9 × 0.5–0.7 mm; pollen shed in tetrads; ovary oblong, barely 4-angled, 3–4.5 × 2–3.5 mm; nectary disc elevated 0.5–0.8 mm on ovary apex, yellowish green, 1.8–3 mm diam., 4-lobed, glabrous; style yellowish green, 0.5–0.8 mm, glabrous, stigma broadly clavate to subglobose, 0.4–0.8 × 0.3–0.6 mm, usually 4-lobed, not exserted beyond anthers. |
Capsules | cylindric to clavate-cylindric, subterete to ± 4-angled, 17–50 × 2.5–8 mm, thin-walled, irregularly dehiscent by 4–8 linear valves splitting from apex, short-villous, pedicel 5–25 mm. |
oblong-obovoid, obscurely 4-angled, 4–7 × 2.5–5 mm, hard-walled, irregularly dehiscent, pedicel 0.1–0.3 mm. |
Seeds | in several indistinct rows per locule, broad-cylindric with rounded ends, 0.6–0.9 × 0.5–0.8 mm, raphe inflated and nearly equal to seed body. |
light brown, narrowly oblong with curved ends, 0.5–0.6 × 0.2–0.3 mm, surface cells elongate parallel to seed length. |
4 | –1(–1.3) mm, with a swollen base, margins minutely papillose-serrulate. |
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2n | = [16], 32, 48. |
= 32. |
Ludwigia octovalvis |
Ludwigia polycarpa |
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Phenology | Flowering summer–early fall. | Flowering Jun–Sep. |
Habitat | Wet or moist places, along coasts, streams, ditches, swamps, often near disturbance or cultivation. | Ditches, moist prairies, alluvial ground of ponds, lakes, and rivers, marshes, swales, edges of lagoons, low fallow fields. |
Elevation | 0–300[–2200] m. (0–1000[–7200] ft.) | 100–300 m. (300–1000 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; s Asia; e Asia (Burma, China, India, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam); Africa; Indian Ocean Islands (Comoros Islands, Madagascar); Pacific Islands (New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines)
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CT; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MI; MN; MO; NE; OH; PA; VA; WI; WV; ON
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Discussion | Ludwigia octovalvis is perhaps the most widespread species of Ludwigia worldwide and exhibits a very complex pattern of morphological and ecological variation, correlated only in part with multiple ploidy levels; this complexity is reflected in its extensive synonymy. P. H. Raven (1963[1964]), P. A. Munz (1942, 1965), and others have proposed formal classifications to account for this variation, with mixed results and additional study using more powerful analytical tools is clearly needed in order to develop a more stable classification. In the absence of better understanding, and despite some correlated patterns of morphological and geographical variation on a global scale, this treatment does not recognize infraspecific taxa. Jussiaea hirsuta Velloso, J. suffruticosa var. angustifolia Chodat & Hassler, J. velutina Kunze, and Ludwigia suffruticosa (Linnaeus) M. Gómez are later homonyms; these four names pertain here. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Ludwigia polycarpa, unlike all other species in sect. Isnardia, is distributed primarily in the central Midwest and Great Lakes regions, with one highly disjunct population recorded from Kootenai County, Idaho, which is presumably introduced. This species has also been found scattered as far east as Connecticut and Massachusetts, and reports of it from Arkansas, Maine, Tennessee, and Vermont cannot be confirmed. As indicated by C. I. Peng (1989), a report of this species from Alabama involved a natural hybrid between L. glandulosa and L. pilosa. The basal stolons formed by Ludwigia polycarpa tend to be shorter, more condensed, and more branched than those found in other species, and may be a morphological adaptation to perennial survival in the colder areas in which it grows. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. |
Parent taxa | Onagraceae > subfam. Ludwigioideae > Ludwigia > sect. Macrocarpon | Onagraceae > subfam. Ludwigioideae > Ludwigia > sect. Isnardia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Oenothera octovalvis, Jussiaea calycina, J. clavata, J. frutescens, J. haenkeana, J. hirta, J. ligustrifolia, J. occidentalis, J. octofila, J. octonervia, J. octonervia var. sessiliflora, J. octovalvis, J. parviflora, J. peruviana var. octofila, J. pubescens, J. sagrana, J. salicifolia, J. scabra, J. suffruticosa, J. suffruticosa var. ligustrifolia, J. suffruticosa var. linearifolia, J. suffruticosa var. octofila, J. suffruticosa subsp. octonervia, J. suffruticosa var. octonervia, J. suffruticosa var. sessiliflora, J. suffruticosa var. sintenisii, J. venosa, J. villosa, L. octovalvis var. ligustrifolia, L. octovalvis var. octofila, L. octovalvis subsp. sessiliflora, L. octovalvis var. sessiliflora, L. pubescens, L. pubescens var. ligustrifolia, L. pubescens var. linearifolia, L. pubescens var. sessiliflora, L. sagrana | Isnardia polycarpa |
Name authority | (Jacquin) P. H. Raven: Kew Bull. 15: 476. (1962) | Short & R. Peter: Transylvania J. Med. Assoc. Sci. 8: 581. (1835) |
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