Citation: L., Sp. Pl. 118 (1753).

Derivation: Named in honour of C. G. Ludwig, 1709-1773, Professor of medicine in Leipzig.

Synonymy: Jussiaea L., Sp. Pl. 388 (1753).

Common name: None

Description:
Perennial herbs with branches forming extensive mats on marshy soils or floating in shallow water; leaves alternate, petiolate, entire.

Inflorescence raceme-like, with flowers in the axils of leaf-like bracts but with 2 deciduous bracteoles at the apex of the pedicel; floral tube 0.2-0.3 cm long, densely hairy inside, eventually deciduous; sepals 5, free; petals 5, broadly ovate, truncate to emarginate, yellow; stamens 10 in 2 whorls of about equal length, with the anthers usually basifixed, c. 2 mm long; ovary inferior, with 5 cells each with many ovules on an axile placenta; style hairy, as long as or longer than the stamens and with a capitate terminal stigma.

Fruit indehiscent and eventually disintegrating from the apex; seeds obovoid to ellipsoid, smooth, without hairs.

Distribution:  A cosmopolitan genus of about 75 species, which is particularly well represented in tropical America.

Biology: No text

Author: Not yet available