One-flower false fiddleleaf

Hydrolea affinis A. Gray; Nama affinis (A. Gray) Kuntze

Herbs, erect or decumbent, to 6 dm, unbranched, with short reproductive branches or with branches arising from prostrate stems. Stems green to brown, glabrous or puberulent, without long, jointed hairs; thorns 1 or 2 per node, 6–15 × 0.5–1.2 mm. Leaf blades lanceolate, 3–10 × 1–2 cm, base attenuate to acute, margins entire or serrulate, surfaces glabrous. Inflorescences axillary, fasciculate, 1–10-flowered, or on short, leafy branches. Flowers: sepals broadly lanceolate to ovate, 5–8 × 1.5–4 mm, glabrous or puberulent, without glandular trichomes; corolla blue, occasionally white, petals 7–11 × 4–6 mm; ovary glabrous; styles 2, 3.5–5 mm, glabrous. Capsules globose, 4–6 mm wide, glabrous. Seeds ovoid, 0.5–0.6 × 0.2–0.3 mm. 2n = 20.

Flowering Jun–Sep. Stream banks and pond margins; 0–300 m; Ala., Ark., Ill., Ky., La., Miss., Mo., Okla., Tenn., Tex.

Hydrolea uniflora is very similar morphologically to H. quadrivalvis but differs from it in lacking long, jointed hairs and by having flower clusters borne on long (to 4 cm) peduncles.