Flora of the Southeastern United States

Ludwigia sphaerocarpa Elliott. Common name: Globe-fruited Seedbox. Phenology: Jun-Sep. Habitat: Boggy areas, pools, ditches, river marshes, interdune swales, river and pondshores, tidal freshwater marshes. Distribution: E. MA south to n. FL, west to e. TX, primarily on the Coastal Plain, spottily distributed in that range, and also disjunct in w. NY, sc. TN, s. IN, and nw. IN, ne. and s. IL. Recently rediscovered in Illinois in 2019 by Paul Marcum in Pope County, approximately 160 years after first being discovered in the state much further north in Cook County. This species otherwise primarily occurs in the coastal plain outside of its Great Lakes disjunction.

Origin/Endemic status: Native

Taxonomy Comments: This species is tetraploid (n = 16). Peng (1989) considers it likely that L. sphaerocarpa is of allopolyploid origin, one or both of its parents now extinct.

Synonymy ⓘ: = C, Fl4, FNA10, GW2, K4, Mi, NE, NY, Pa, RAB, S, S13, Tn, Va, WH3, Peng (1989), Wagner, Hoch, & Raven (2007); > Ludwigia sphaerocarpa Elliott var. deamii Fernald & Griscom — F, G, Il; > Ludwigia sphaerocarpa Elliott var. jungens Fernald & Griscom — F, G, Tat; > Ludwigia sphaerocarpa Elliott var. macrocarpa Fernald & Griscom — F, G; > Ludwigia sphaerocarpa Elliott var. sphaerocarpa — F, G, Tat. Basionym: Ludwigia sphaerocarpa Elliott 1817

Links to other floras: = Ludwigia sphaerocarpa - FNA10

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Wetland Indicator Status:

• Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: OBL
• Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: OBL
• Great Plains: OBL
• Midwest: OBL
• Northcentral & Northeast: OBL

Heliophily ⓘ: 8