Creeping Primrose Willow

(Ludwigia peploides)

 

   

 

 

Color Photograph: Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Creeping Primrose Willow (Ludwigia peploides [Kunth] Raven)

Identification: Plant aquatic. Flowers yellow, with 5 petals and 10 stamens. Stigma undivided. Sepals narrow, elongate, pointed, curling downward. Flowers and seed capsules on long flower stalks, nearly equal in length to the leaves. Stems colored with purple, floating, and commonly rooting from the nodes. Leaves elongate, alternate, with smooth outer margins, and long petioles.

Distribution: Nebraka and Iowa in the east to New York in the east, southward to Florida and Texas. Also occurs in the southwestern United States amd the American tropics.

Habitat: Creeping Primrose Willow is an aquatic plant living in shallow water, mudbanks, and swamps.

Flowering period: June to October.

Similar Species: Both Seedbox and Upright Primrose Willow have 4, not 5 petals.

Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc. 2003. All rights reserved.