Ludwigia palustris |
Ludwigia glandulosa |
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common water-primrose, eastern false loosestrife, ludwigie palustre, marsh primrose-willow, marsh purslane, marsh seedbox, water-purslane |
creeping seedbox, cylindricfruit primrose-willow |
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Habit | Herbs often creeping, rooting at nodes, forming mats. | Herbs slender, forming stolons 5–20 cm, 0.4–0.8 mm thick. | ||||
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. |
erect, slightly ridged, usually well branched, 10–80(–100) cm, glabrate or often with strigillose raised lines decurrent from leaf axils. |
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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. |
alternate; stipules ovate-triangular, 0.15–0.35 × 0.05–0.25 mm, succulent; stolons: petiole attenuate, 0.3–1 cm, blade narrowly elliptic, 1.5–3.5(–5.5) × 0.5–1.3(–2) cm; main stem: petiole 0–1.5 cm, blade usually narrowly elliptic to elliptic, sometimes linear, 3–12 × 0.3–2.1 cm, base attenuate, margins subentire with hydathodal glands often visible, apex acute to very narrowly acute, surfaces densely papillose-strigillose, abaxial veins glabrous or sparingly, minutely strigillose; leaves on side branches usually reduced, 0.8–4.5 ×0.2–1 cm; bracts much reduced. |
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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. |
open, leafy racemes or spikes, flowers solitary in axils, often congested, especially on branches; bracteoles attached on pedicel at base of ovary or to 2 mm distal to base, narrowly lanceolate to sublinear, 0.4–1 × 0.1–0.4 mm, apex acuminate, surfaces glabrate. |
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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 ascending, light green, ovate-deltate, 1.1–2.3 × 1–1.8 mm, margins entire, fringed with minute, strigillose hairs, apex short-acuminate or acute, surfaces glabrous; petals 0; filaments nearly translucent, 0.6–1.1 mm, anthers 0.3–0.5 × 0.3–0.6 mm; pollen shed in tetrads; ovary subcylindric, 2–5 × 0.8–1.9 mm; nectary disc elevated 0.3–0.4 mm on ovary apex, light green, 0.6–1.8 mm diam., 4-lobed, glabrous or minutely papillose; style pale green, 0.3–0.8 mm, glabrous, stigma broadly clavate to subglobose, 0.2–0.5 × 0.2–0.5 mm, not exserted beyond anthers. |
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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. |
subcylindric, subterete to obscurely 4-angled with 4 shallow grooves, 2–8(–9) × 1.3–2(–3) mm, hard-walled, irregularly dehiscent, pedicel 0–0.3(–0.5) mm. |
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Seeds | yellowish brown, ellipsoid, 0.5–0.7 × 0.3–0.4 mm, surface cells transversely elongate. |
light brown, kidney-shaped with slightly pointed ends, 0.5–0.8 × 0.3–0.4 mm, surface cells columnar, elongate either parallel or transversely to seed length. |
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2n | = 16. |
= 32. |
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Ludwigia palustris |
Ludwigia glandulosa |
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Phenology | Flowering Feb–Oct. | |||||
Habitat | Roadside ditches, wet meadows, dried pond bottoms, margins of ponds, swamps, rivers, alluvial sand bars. | |||||
Elevation | 0–1000[–2700] m. (0–3300[–8900] 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
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c United States; e United States
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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.) |
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora). Ludwigia glandulosa consists of two subspecies: subsp. glandulosa is very common and widespread throughout the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains and the Mississippi Embayment, westward to eastern Texas and southeastern Oklahoma; subsp. brachycarpa grows only in the western portion of the range of subsp. glandulosa, extending farther west in Texas and Oklahoma. The two taxa grow in similar habitats, but subsp. glandulosa prefers drier habitats farther south and west. The general distinctiveness of these subspecies is probably maintained by their modal autogamy; vegetative reproduction by means of stolons may likewise play a role in preserving favored genotypes (C. I. Peng 1989). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. | ||||
Parent taxa | Onagraceae > subfam. Ludwigioideae > Ludwigia > sect. Isnardia | Onagraceae > subfam. Ludwigioideae > Ludwigia > sect. Isnardia | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate 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 | |||||
Name authority | (Linnaeus) Elliott: Sketch Bot. S. Carolina 1: 211. (1817) | Walter: Fl. Carol., 88. (1788) | ||||
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