Herbs, perennial or (robust) annual, or shrubs, often with woody base, when aquatic, forming white pneumatophores from nodes. Stems usually erect or strongly ascending, rarely floating or creeping, terete to somewhat angled on young branches, 30–250 cm, well branched to sparsely branched or simple, usually villous, often also strigillose, rarely glabrous, with raised lines decurrent from leaf-axils. Leaves: stipules narrowly deltate, 0.1–0.2 × 0.1–0.2 mm; petiole 0.2–3.5 cm; blade broadly lanceolate, 3.5–18 × 1–4 cm, base narrowly cuneate, margins subentire, apex acuminate, surfaces hirsute or villous; bracts slightly to much reduced. Inflorescences leafy racemes, flowers solitary in axils; bracteoles often absent, when present, narrowly deltate, 2–3 × 1.2–2.4 mm, attached near ovary base. Flowers: sepals ovate-deltate, 5.5–11 × 1.5–3 mm, margins entire, apex acuminate, surfaces villous; petals orange-yellow, obovate, 5–11 × 4–8 mm; stamens (8 or) 10 or 12 (or 14), in 2 unequal series, longer filaments 2.5–4.5 mm, shorter ones 1.5–2.5 mm, anthers oblong, 1.2–1.6 × 0.7–1 mm, extrorse; ovary cylindric, sub­terete, 10–16 × 2–3 mm, glabrate to strigillose or vil­lous; nectary disc slightly elevated at ovary apex, 2–4 mm diam., lobed, depressed, surrounded by densely matted white hairs; style 3–4.5 mm, glabrous, stigma capitate-globose, 1–1.5 × 2–2.5 mm, ± exserted beyond anthers. Capsules obscurely [4 or] 5 or 6 [or 7] -angled or subterete, straight or curved, 15–50 × 2.5–4 mm, relatively thin-walled, seeds visible as bumps, tardily and irregularly loculicidal, villous, pedicel 2–20 mm. Seeds in 1 row per locule, horizontal and loosely embedded in an easily detached horseshoe-shaped segment of firm endocarp, pale-brown, obovoid, 1–1.2 mm, shiny, finely pitted, raphe much narrower than seed body. 2n = 32, 48.

Phenology: Flowering summer.
Habitat: Wet places, mainly along coastal areas, especially ditches, banks near brackish water.
Elevation: 0–200[–1300] m.

Distribution

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• Legacy Map

Ala., Ark., Del., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Ky., La., Md., Miss., Mo., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va., W.Va., Mexico (Campeche), Mexico (Chiapas), Mexico (Jalisco), Mexico (Nayarit), Mexico (Oaxaca), Mexico (San Luis Potosí), Mexico (Tabasco), Mexico (Tamaulipas), Mexico (Veracruz), West Indies (Cuba), West Indies (Hispaniola), West Indies (Jamaica), West Indies (Puerto Rico), Central America, South America, Africa, Indian Ocean Islands (Madagascar)

Discussion

Ludwigia leptocarpa is a globally widespread and morphologically variable species; in the flora area it is distributed widely in wet areas of the southeastern United States. Both tetraploid and hexaploid plants are known, but it is not clear if or how ploidy level is related to the considerable morphological variation, especially in pubescence type and pattern.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.