FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Small whitish-purple flowers on stalks much longer than the leaves. Leaves attach directly to stem; stems somewhat reclining.
Description: Weakly ascending, low, annual, leafy herb, 10 to 25 cm tall.
Leaves: Opposite leaves in scattered pairs, about 3 cm long and 1 cm wide, obovate, attached directly to the stem, sometimes toothed.
Flowers/Fruit: Small, pale purple or blue flowers, approximately 1 cm long, growing singly from leaf bases on stalks much longer than leaves. Flowers June through September, fruiting soon after.
Habit and Range: A common species in sunny freshwater wet places, such as stream floodplains, bottomlands, ditches, muddy lake and pond shorelines, and wet meadows. Found statewide but extremely rare in the Mountains.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Lindernia dubia (yellowseed false-pimpernel) has flowering stalks about the same length as the leaves or shorter. Gratiola virginiana (round-fruit hedge-hyssop) also has a similar habit, but fruits are round and its leaves taper to narrow bases.
Click here to view Gratiola virginiana.
Click here to view Lindernia dubia.
Link to side-by-side comparisons page
