Ludwigia
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Onagraceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Genus Description - Erect or prostrate herbs or subshrubs. Leaves alternate or opposite, entire; stipules wanting or minute. Flowers bisexual, regular, solitary or in axillary clusters, or rarely the inflorescence appearing raceme- or spikelike because leaves reduced upward to bracts; bracteoles wanting or when present leafy or reduced; hypanthium not prolonged beyond the ovary, crowned by 4-6 sepals; petals free, 4-6, or rarely wanting; stamens as many or twice as many as the petals, in 1 or 2 whorls; ovary partially inferior, 4-6-locular, the locules with numerous ovules in 1 or numerous rows, the style elongate, the stigma capitate. Fruit a capsule, with irregular dehiscence, or by a terminal pore; seeds numerous, small.
Distribution and Ecology - A genus of 75 species, with nearly cosmopolitan distribution, but principally in the New World.