Jussiaea leptocarpa Nutt.

• Authority

  Britton, Nathaniel L. Flora Borinqueña.

• Family

  Onagraceae

• Scientific Name

  Jussiaea leptocarpa Nutt.

• Description

  Species Description - A fresh-water plant, of very wide geographic distribution, frequent in Porto Rico marshes and ditches, with narrow leaves, and small, yellow flowers. Its range extends through the Greater Antilles, through the Lesser Antilles from Guadeloupe to Trinidad, through continental tropical America, extending north to Georgia, Arkansas and Texas, and also inhabits tropical Africa. For an account of the genus, we refer to our description of Jussiaea angustifolia. Jussiaea leptocarpa (slender-fruit) is a branched herb, upright, or ascending, various in aspect, from 0.3 to nearly 2 meters high. The oblong to lance-shaped, short-stalked, or stalkless leaves are from 2 to 10 centimeters long, blunt, or pointed, the base narrowed. The flowers are very short-stalked, or stalkless; the 4 to 6, lance-shaped calyx-lobes are about 6 millimeters long, the obovate, yellow petals a little longer. The slender, nearly cylindric capsule is 2 or 3 centimeters long:, narrowed toward the base, the seeds in one row in each cavity.

• Discussion

  Slender-fruited Primrose-willow Evening-primrose Family Jussiaea leptocarpa Nuttall, Genera of North American plants 1: 279.1818. Jussiaea variabilis G. F. W. Meyer, Primitiae Florae Essequibonensis 174. 1818. Jussiaea affinis De Candolle, Prodromus 3: 53. 1828.