Ludwigia virgata
Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 89. 1803.
Roots fascicled, often fusiform, or spreading horizontally. Stems subterete to scarcely angled, with narrow raised lines or wings decurrent from leaf-axils, 45–85 cm, branched mainly near base, glabrate with strigillose raised lines or strigillose. Leaves: stipules narrowly deltate, 0.1–0.2 × 0.1–0.15 mm; sessile; blade ovate to obovate proximally, lanceolate-linear to linear distally, 2–7 × 0.2–1 (–1.5) cm, base cuneate, margins entire, apex acute to rounded, surfaces strigillose, densely so particularly along veins; bracts usually very reduced in size, sublinear. 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. Flowers: sepals strongly reflexed, narrowly ovate-deltate, 6–10 × 2.5–4.5 mm, margins entire, apex acute, surfaces finely strigillose to glabrate; petals cordate, 14–19 × 13–15 mm, base attenuate, apex emarginate; filaments opaque white, awl-shaped, 1.9–4.2 mm, anthers 2–4 × 0.6–1 mm; ovary subcuboid to globose, 3–4 × 3–4 mm; nectary disc elevated, domed, 0.8–1.4 mm diam., prominently 4-lobed, ringed with silky-curly hairs; style 5–9.5 mm, glabrous, stigma capitate to hemispherical, 0.6–1.3 × 1.3–2.6 mm, shallowly 4-lobed, as long as or exserted beyond anthers. Capsules subglobose to ellipsoid, 3.5–6.8 × 3.3–4.3 mm, 4-angled, angles not developed into wings, pedicel 6.5–17 mm. Seeds light-brown, elliptic-oblong to reniform, 0.5–0.7 × 0.3–0.4 mm, surface cells elongate transversely to seed length or elongate parallel to length near raphe. 2n = 16.
Phenology: Flowering summer.
Habitat: Sandy savannas, pinelands, damp roadside ditches, margins of ponds, bogs, irrigated fields, usually within 75 miles of sea coast.
Elevation: 0–300 m.
Distribution
Ala., Fla., Ga., Miss., N.C., S.C., Va.
Discussion
Selected References
None.