TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL	previous taxon | next taxon Jepson Interchange (more information)
	©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California Print edition is available from the University of California Press

	The second edition of The Jepson Manual (2012) is available from the University of California Press
	See also the Jepson eFlora, which parallels the Second Edition

ONAGRACEAE

EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY

Warren L. Wagner, except as specified Peter H. Raven, Family Coordinator

Annual to tree
Leaves basal or cauline, alternate, opposite, or whorled, generally simple and toothed (to pinnately compound); stipules 0 or generally deciduous
Inflorescence: spike, raceme, panicle, or flowers solitary in axils; bracted
Flower generally bisexual, generally radial, opening at dawn or dusk; hypanthium sometimes prolonged beyond ovary (measured from ovary tip to sepal base); sepals generally 4(2–7); petals generally 4 (or as many as sepals, rarely 0), often "fading" darker; stamens generally 4 or 8(2), anthers 2-chambered, opening lengthwise, pollen generally interconnected by threads; ovary inferior, chambers generally 4 (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, or hemispheric
Fruit: capsule, loculicidal (sometimes berry or indehiscent and nut-like)
Seeds sometimes winged or hair-tufted
Genera in family: 15 genera, ± 650 species: worldwide, especially w North America; many cultivated (Clarkia, Epilobium, Fuchsia, Gaura, Oenothera )
Reference: [Munz 1965 North America Fl II 5:1–278]

LUDWIGIA

FALSE LOOSESTRIFE, WATER PRIMROSE

Peter C. Hoch

Annual to subshrub, sometimes floating or rooting at nodes
Leaves alternate to opposite, simple; stipules generally deciduous
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 dehiscing irregularly; wall thick or thin
Seeds free or embedded in fruit wall
Species in genus: 82 species: ± worldwide
Etymology: (C.G. Ludwig, German botanist and physician, 1709–1773)
Reference: [Raven 1963 Reinwardtia 6:327–427]
Many polyploids.

Native

L. peploides (Kunth) P.H. Raven

Perennial, matted, floating, or creeping
Stem 1–30 dm, prostrate to erect, simple or branched
Leaves < 10 cm, alternate, ± clustered; blade oblong to round, subentire, glabrous to spreading-hairy above
Flower: sepals 5(6), 3–12 mm; petals 5(6), 7–24 mm; stamens 10(12) in 2 unequal sets, anthers 0.5–2.2 mm
Fruit reflexed; pedicel 6–90 mm; body cylindric, ± 5-angled, hard, subglabrous to spreading-hairy
Seed 1–1.5 mm, embedded in inner fruit wall
Chromosomes: 2n=16
Ecology: Ditches, streambanks, lakeshores
Elevation: < 900 m.
Bioregional distribution: North Coast, Outer North Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada Foothills, Great Central Valley, Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, South Coast, Western Transverse Ranges, sw Mojave Desert
Distribution outside California: to Oregon, se US, S.America, Eurasia, Australia
Synonyms: Jussiaea repens L. misapplied
May be serious wetland or agricultural weed.

Native

subsp. peploides

Plant (sub)glabrous
Leaf: tip generally not glandular; lower petioles 3–8 mm
Fruit: body 10–25 mm
Chromosomes: 2n=16
Ecology: Ditches, shores, streambanks
Elevation: < 900 m.
Bioregional distribution: North Coast, Outer North Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada Foothills, Great Central Valley, Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, South Coast, Western Transverse Ranges, sw Mojave Desert
Distribution outside California: to Oregon, Texas, S.America, introduced into Australia
Flowering time: May–Oct
Synonyms: J. r. var. p. (Kunth) Griseb. misapplied