Ludwigia palustris

Marsh purslane

Family: Onagraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Marsh purslane is a California native perennial found in western Northwest California, northern Sierra Nevada, central Sierra Nevada, San Joaquin Valley, Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, and Southern California in roadside ditches, wet meadows, and pond margins at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from June to September, this plant produces small green flowers with minimal petals. Growing with prostrate or ascending stems that root at nodes and spread 1 to 5 decimeters wide, it forms a matted ground cover. Its opposite leaves are narrowly elliptic to subovate, less than 5 centimeters long and nearly smooth. The fruit develops as an erect, slightly oblong structure 1.5 to 5 millimeters long with faint green stripes.

Habitat: Roadside ditches, wet meadows, pond margins

Bloom period: Jun-Sep

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: w NW, n SN, c SNH, SnJV, CCo, SnFrB, SCo

California counties: El Dorado, Fresno, Shasta, Sonoma, Lake, Madera, Modoc, Sacramento, Del Norte, Yuba, Butte, Tehama, Plumas, Lassen, Kings, Stanislaus, Humboldt, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Siskiyou, Tuolumne, Napa, Santa Cruz, Placer, Ventura

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.