Saturday, December 11, 2010

Wickham Park: Catching Up #2, Bidens and Ludwigia Study, September 20, 24 and October 15, 2010

Only two topics in this "catching up" post: Smallfruit beggarticks and Seaside primrosewillow.
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Smallfruit beggarticks (Bidens mitis, Asteraceae)
Native

In late summer and fall, large patches of this pretty yellow wildflower can be seen near the ditch by the road leading into the Youth Camping Area. Plant characteristics, from Taylor: Outer bracts green, sparsely haired; inner bracts membranous, yellowish-reddish. Leaves opposite, stalked, single or divided into narrow segments (3 in the case of this specimen). Found in wet, disturbed sites. Often occurs in large numbers.

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Seaside primrosewillow (Ludigia maritima, Onagraceae)
Native

The USF/ISB website lists 10 species of primrosewillow (genus Ludwigia) in Brevard Co. So far, I've only found 3 of them in Wickham Park (L. peruviana, L. octovalis, and L. maritima). I recently found a fourth one, L. suffruticosa, in the Cruickshank Sanctuary. Seaside primrosewillow is easily identified by its fruit: small, cube-shaped capsules that remain on the plant long after the blooms have gone (blooms spring, summer, fall). Wunderlin lists 4 Ludwigia that have cube-shaped capsules, but L. maritima is the only one found in Brevard. Unlike Peruvian and Mexican primrosewillows, which are usually large and shrubby, this plant is small, puts up a stalk (3 ft, or less) with only a few branches and with a few, relatively small flowers scattered along the stalk. This species occurs in flatwoods, bogs, and swamp margins (this one was found in a ditch in the park). Although, the species epithet maritima means of the sea, the plant is found throughout Florida. The seeds obviously exit through the hole in the top of the capsule, but I don't know how they get out. Explosively, perhaps?
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