Jepson Herbarium
		University of California, Berkeley

Directory       News       Site Map       Home

Indexes to all accepted names and synonyms: | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

Annual to perennial herb (to tree).
Leaf: cauline or basal, alternate, opposite, or whorled, generally simple and toothed (to pinnately compound); stipules 0 or generally deciduous.
Inflorescence: spike, raceme, panicle, or flowers 1 in axils; bracted.
Flower: generally bisexual, generally radial, often opening at either dawn or dusk; hypanthium generally prolonged beyond ovary (measured from ovary tip to sepal base); sepals 4(2–7); petals 4(2–7, rarely 0), often fading darker; stamens 2 × or = sepals in number, anthers 2-chambered, opening lengthwise, pollen interconnected by threads; ovary inferior, chambers generally as many as sepals (sometimes becoming 1), placentas axile or parietal, ovules 1–many per chamber, style 1, stigma 4-lobed (or lobes as many as sepals), club-shaped, spheric, or hemispheric.
Fruit: capsule, loculicidal (sometimes berry or indehiscent and nut-like).
Seed: sometimes winged or hair-tufted.
22 genera, ± 657 species: worldwide, especially w North America; many cultivated (Clarkia, Epilobium, Fuchsia, Oenothera). [Wagner et al. 2007 Syst Bot Monogr 83:1–240] Gaura moved to Oenothera. Fuchsia magellanica Lam. naturalized in n CA. —Scientific Editors: Robert Patterson, Bruce G. Baldwin.
Unabridged references: [Munz 1965 North America Fl II 5:1–278]

Key to Onagraceae

Annual to subshrub or emergent aquatic, often floating, rooting at nodes.
Leaf: alternate to opposite.
Inflorescence: spike; flowers 1 per bract.
Flower: radial; hypanthium 0; sepals 4–5(7), persistent; petals (0)4–5(7), white to yellow; stamens 4 or 10(12), pollen generally shed singly (in CA); stigma club-shaped to spheric.
Fruit: irregularly dehiscing; wall thick or thin.
Seed: free or embedded in woody piece of fruit wall.
82 species: ± worldwide. (C.G. Ludwig, German botanist, physician, 1709–1773) [Raven 1963 Reinwardtia 6:327–427] Many polyploids.

Perennial, subshrub, emergent aquatic, 3–20(40) dm, matted, with thick white spongy roots at floating nodes, creeping to erect on land, often climbing on other plants.
Stem: prostrate to erect, flower shoot erect, simple or branched distally, glabrous (floating) to spreading-hairy ( erect).
Leaf: alternate, 3–11(15) cm; petiole (0)5–30(56) mm; blade narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate or widely obovate, entire, ± glabrous, tip generally mucronate.
Inflorescence: bracts lanceolate to lance- ovate; pedicel (9)13–25(85) mm.
Flower: sepals 5(6), 12–19 mm; petals 5(6), 18–29 mm; stamens 10(12) in 2 unequal sets, anthers 1.5–4.5 mm.
Fruit: reflexed, falling with pedicel; 14–26 mm, cylindric, tapered to pedicel, ± spreading-hairy.
Seed: 1.2–1.5 mm, embedded in woody inner fruit wall.
2n=80. Lake margins, wetlands; < 300 m. North Coast, s Outer North Coast Ranges, Great Central Valley, Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, South Coast;

Previous taxon: Ludwigia grandiflora
Next taxon: Ludwigia palustris

Contact/Feedback

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) [year] Jepson eFlora, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/IJM.html [accessed on month, day, year]
Citation for an individual treatment: [Author of taxon treatment] [year]. [Taxon name] in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, [URL for treatment]. Accessed on [month, day, year].

Copyright © 2012 Regents of the University of California
We encourage links to these pages, but the content may not be downloaded for reposting, repackaging, redistributing, or sale in any form, without written permission from The Jepson Herbarium.

Bioregions in which taxon occurs	Red area (if present) is the part of the bioregion lying between the upper and lower elevation limits of the taxon; markers link to CCH specimen records. If the markers are obscured, reload the page [or change window size and reload]. Yellow markers indicate records that may have georeferencing or identification issues.
Chart based on elevation range in Manual and elevations and coordinates of CCH records. Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria. Note: About half of the CCH records include both elevation and coordinates.	Map made in collaboration with Scott Loarie. Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria. View all CCH records   CCH collections by month Duplicates counted once; synonyms included. Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa. Blue line denotes Manual flowering time.