FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Roots at the nodes and stays recumbent even in maturity.
Description: Creeping, leafy plant with small leaves, rooted at nodes, growing about 60 cm long.
Leaves: Opposite, elliptic with smooth margins and pointed ends, about 3 cm long and 1.5 cm wide. Leaves taper along petiole to stems, which are red.
Flowers/Fruit: Tiny flowers with no petals (just 4 green sepals), directly attached to stems just above leaves. Fruit a tiny capsule (2 to 4 mm long) with green stripes. Blooms May to October, fruiting soon after flowering.
Habit and Range: Very common throughout the state sprawled on exposed mud or in shallow water at pond or lake margins, marsh edges, openings in swamps, wet ditches.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Ludwigia palustris (marsh primrose-willow) can be confused with immature Ludwigia hexapetala (common water-primrose), but look for leaves with pointed ends and reddish stems. Ludwigia palustris is also similar to Rotala ramosior (lowland rotala) but with much wider leaves.
