FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Look for 4-petaled yellow flowers, and brown box-shaped capsules.
Description: Erect, tall herb when mature, with branches turned upward, 1 to 1.25 m tall.
Leaves: Alternate, lance-shaped to narrowly elliptic with very short petioles and smooth margins. Stems reddish, angled, and slightly winged.
Flowers/Fruit: Bright yellow, 4-petaled flowers, about 1.25 cm across. Round yellow petals often drop quickly, but 4 green sepals remain. Capsule distinct, 4-angled and box-shaped, remaining into the winter. Blooms May to October, fruiting soon after.
Habit and Range: Quite common throughout the state in open, sunny, wet or damp areas like bogs, marshes, ditches, pond margins, low areas, and openings in swamps.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Other erect-growing North Carolina Ludwigia species tend to have more than four petals or none at all. The similar Ludwigia decurrens (wing-leaf primrose-willow) has winged stems, the wings originating from the base of each leaf and extending down the stem. Ludwigia decurrens also has elongated, winged fruits.
Click here to view Ludwigia decurrens.
Link to side-by-side comparisons page
