Ludwigia palustris |
Ludwigia alternifolia |
|
---|---|---|
common water-primrose, eastern false loosestrife, ludwigie palustre, marsh primrose-willow, marsh purslane, marsh seedbox, water-purslane |
bushy seedbox, ludwigie à feuilles alternes, rattlebox, seedbox, square-pod water-primrose |
|
Habit | Herbs often creeping, rooting at nodes, forming mats. | |
Roots | fusiform, fascicled, thickened, epidermis splitting or peeling near base. |
|
Stems | prostrate or decumbent and ascending at tips, subterete or with raised lines decurrent from leaf axils, well branched, 10–50(–70) cm, glabrous or, sometimes, minutely strigillose on leaf margins and inflorescence. |
subterete or somewhat angled, with narrow raised lines or wings decurrent from leaf axils, 40–150 cm, well branched in distal 1/2, glabrous or sparsely to densely strigillose. |
Leaves | opposite; stipules narrowly deltate, 0.05–0.1 × 0.05–0.1 mm; petiole narrowly winged, 0.1–2.5 cm, blade narrowly to broadly elliptic or ovate-elliptic, 0.5–4.5 × 0.3–2.3 cm, base abruptly attenuate, margins entire and minutely strigillose, apex subacute, surfaces glabrous; bracts not reduced. |
stipules narrowly deltate, 0.05–0.2 × 0.05–0.1 mm; petiole 0.1–0.3(–0.7) cm; blade lanceolate-elliptic, (0.6–)2–12 × (0.3–)1–1.5(–2.5) cm, base attenuate, margins entire, apex acute, surfaces strigillose throughout or glabrate with strigillose veins; bracts often reduced and more linear. |
Inflorescences | leafy spikes or racemes, flowers usually paired in leaf axils of prostrate stems; bracteoles attached at base or to 2.5 mm distal to base of ovary, sublinear, 0.3–1(–1.8) × 0.1–0.8 mm. |
leafy racemes, flowers solitary in leaf axils; bracteoles linear-lanceolate, 1–2.5 mm, margins entire, apex acute or subacuminate, glabrous or with scattered hairs, attached near base of ovary. |
Flowers | sepals ascending, green, ovate-deltate, 1.1–2 × 1–2.1 mm, margins finely serrulate with minute hairs, apex acuminate, sometimes with blunt tip, surfaces glabrous; petals 0; filaments translucent, 0.4–0.6 mm, anthers 0.2–0.4 × 0.3–0.6 mm; pollen shed singly; ovary oblong, 1.5–3.5 × 1–2 mm, glabrate; nectary disc elevated 0.15–0.3 mm on ovary apex, green, 1–2 mm diam., 4-lobed, glabrous; style pale green, 0.3–0.7 mm, glabrous, stigma subglobose or capitate, 0.4–0.6 × 0.2–0.4 mm, not exserted beyond anthers. |
sepals narrowly ovate-deltate, (6–)6.5–9.5 × 4–6.5 mm, margins entire, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces strigillose, sometimes mixed with villous hairs, or glabrate; petals cordate, 10–14 ×8–12 mm, base attenuate, apex emarginate; filaments opaque white, awl-shaped, 1–3 mm, anthers 1–1.7 × 0.6–0.8 mm; ovary subcuboid to globose, 2.5–4 ×2.5–3.5 mm; nectary disc slightly elevated on ovary apex, 0.8–1.5 mm diam., 4-lobed, ringed with soft, curly hairs or glabrous; style 1.5–2.4 mm, glabrous, stigma light yellow, capitate to hemispherical, 1–1.3 × 1.4–2 mm, shallowly 4-lobed, not or scarcely exserted beyond anthers. |
Capsules | oblong obovoid, 4-angled, (1.6–)2–5 × 1.5–3(–3.5) mm, thin-walled, irregularly dehiscent or dispersing as unit, pedicel 0–0.5 mm. |
subcuboid to squarish globose, 4–6(–7) × 4–6 mm, 4-angled and 4-winged, wings 0.3–1.5 mm wide, pedicel 2–7 mm. |
Seeds | yellowish brown, ellipsoid, 0.5–0.7 × 0.3–0.4 mm, surface cells transversely elongate. |
light brown, oblong to reniform, 0.5–0.8 × 0.2–0.4 mm, surface cells elongate transversely to seed length. |
2n | = 16. |
= 16. |
Ludwigia palustris |
Ludwigia alternifolia |
|
Phenology | Flowering Feb–Oct. | Flowering summer–early fall. |
Habitat | Roadside ditches, wet meadows, dried pond bottoms, margins of ponds, swamps, rivers, alluvial sand bars. | Swamps, damp, peaty places, roadside ditches, margins of cultivated fields. |
Elevation | 0–1000[–2700] m. (0–3300[–8900] ft.) | 0–1800 m. (0–5900 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; BC; NB; NF; NS; ON; QC; Mexico (Chiapas, Chihuahua, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, México, Michoacán, Morelos, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Veracruz); West Indies (Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico); Bermuda; Central America (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama); South America (Colombia, Peru, Venezuela); Europe; sw Asia; Africa; introduced in Pacific Islands (Hawaii, New Zealand); Australia
|
AL; AR; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON; QC
|
Discussion | Ludwigia palustris is a common diploid and most widely distributed species in sect. Isnardia. It is particularly widespread in temperate North America and in Europe [the type is thought to be from Europe (P. H. Raven 1963[1964]; C. I. Peng et al. 2005)], more sporadically in Africa and sw Asia, and introduced in Australasia, and Hawaii. The close sister relationship of sect. Isnardia with sect. Miquelia (L. ovalis Miquel only, endemic to eastern Asia) suggests that this clade may have had a history connected with the evolution of the Arcto-Tertiary Geoflora (P. H. Raven and D. I. Axelrod 1974; Peng et al.). Ludwigia palustris is known to hybridize with L. brevipes producing the sterile L. ×lacustris Eames. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Ludwigia alternifolia is widespread and common in the eastern half of the flora area, as far west as Ontario in Canada, eastern Colorado, and Texas. Ludwigia macrocarpa Michaux 1803 is a superfluous, illegitimate name for L. alternifolia. Rhexia linearifolia Poiret was originally described as a species of Melastomataceae, but the description is superficially similar to Ludwigia and has often been included in synonymy with L. alternifolia. The type of R. linearifolia has not been located or studied. (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. Ludwigia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Isnardia palustris, I. ascendens, I. nitida, I. palustris var. americana, L. apetala, L. nitida, L. palustris var. americana, L. palustris var. inundata, L. palustris var. liebmannii, L. palustris var. nana, L. palustris var. pacifica | Isnardia alternifolia, I. alternifolia var. salicifolia, I. alternifolia var. uniflora, I. aurantiaca, L. alternifolia var. linearifolia, L. alternifolia var. pubescens, L. angustifolia var. ramosissima, L. aurantiaca, L. ramosissima, L. salicifolia, L. uniflora |
Name authority | (Linnaeus) Elliott: Sketch Bot. S. Carolina 1: 211. (1817) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 118. (1753) |
Web links |
|