Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains
16. Elatinaceae, the Waterwort Family
1. Bergia L.1. Bergia texana (Hook.) Walp.
Plant glandular-pubescent throughout, often reddish, simple to usually branched from the base, the stems decumbent and then ascending toward the tips, 1-4 dm long. Leaves opposite but crowded above to appear whorled, elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, 2-4 cm long, to 1.5 cm wide, acute, glandular-serrate, tapered to a short-petioled base; stipules subulate, serrate, ca. 1 mm long. Flowers 1-3 in the axils, short-pedicelled; sepals 5, 2-3.5 mm long, acuminate, scarious-margined with a thick, green midvein; petals 5, white, oblong, shorter than the sepals; stamens 5 or 10; ovary 5-celled. Capsule globose, 2-3 mm in diameter, firm-textured; seeds brown, shiny, elliptic-oblong and slightly curved, 0.3-0.5 mm long, obscurely pitted. Jul--Oct. Muddy or sandy shores and flats; rare, s SD, nw NE; (IL to WA, s to AR, TX and CA).
 Bergia texana. |
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