This flower is so distinct it should be easy to identify, but I've spent hours and hours on the net and just can't ID it. I'm working on a series of local flora and fauna pictures which I use as a screen saver on computers at the local Montessori school. I take care of their IT needs. This plant gets more interesting the closer you look at it. If they need flowers in the Tron remake, this would be the flower to use. Notice the arrow in picture 7. Some of the flowers have two small growths hanging off between the sepals (at least I assume they're sepals). There are only two at opposite corners -not four- and only some flowers have them. I've found two of these. One was growing at water's edge by a lake. The other was growing on a rocky slope. Both were in full sun. Both were cut down last Fall, and I haven't found them in the same locations this year. This is in Western Arkansas, by the way. Suggestions?
I do hope someone can id this. I think that the 4 red parts are the calyx, all that is left after the flowers have been fertilised and the petals dropped off. I would love to know what the flowers looked like and the colour. If you look closely at pic 3, you can see each remaining flower structure has a small winged bract, probably 2. Maybe some are more obvious at the top and are what you have highlighted with your arrow.I think these bracts/ wings are still evident on the seeds. Fascinating!
The genus is Ludwigia, or seedbox (aka water primroses). They are in the evening-primrose family. There are several alternate-leaved members of the genus in Arkansas -- I have a key to the flora of Arkansas available, but it relies heavily on flower characteristics. Ludwigia via North Carolina Wildflowers Ludwigia alternifolia via Missouriplants.com. Ludwigia alternifolia (note description here of the "seed box" and sepals turning reddish with age)
Thank you Daniel. I very soon realised I would never find this by surfing!!! I would never have thought of it as a water primrose. Ludwigia octovalvis MAY fit. But the more I read the more varied it sounds. I am very glad I got the petal bit right. http://www.fs.fed.us/global/iitf/pdf/shrubs/Ludwigia octovalvis.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Petal-sepal.jpg
Ludwigia octovalvis is not currently known from Arkansas, though given its distribution, it wouldn't surprise me (depending on how modern the information is in GRIN).
I was just about to edit my last post. Just searching for good pics of the fruit/ seed capsule. It is completely wrong. Nothing like the ones on the thread. Back to the drawing board! http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/bio406d/images/pics/ona/Ludwigia octovalvis fruit.JPG
What an odd plant this is. Daniels mentioned Ludwigia alternifolia, but it looked so unshrub like. Searching further I have now found excellent pics of the fruit. Just like yours... little square boxes! It also has those bracty bits on the back of the flowers. So is this it or not???? http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgu...b:IE-ContextMenu&rlz=1I7SUNA_en-GB&tbs=isch:1 Same link as Daniels, pic 4 shows back of flowers really well. http://www.missouriplants.com/Yellowalt/Ludwigia_alternifolia_page.html
I am truly impressed and grateful. It has to be alternifolia. It's a perfect match. I use missouriplants.com often in this project, but I hadn't spotted this. Oddly, I also have Ludwigia peploides, which was taken just a few feet from the alternifolia. The difference, of course, was that I actually had flowers to identify on the former. Seriously, many thanks for your help. You have no idea how much time I've spent trying to figure this out.
