This perennial plant is ¾–2½' long. It either floats on water or sprawls across the ground. The stems are light green to red (often the latter), glabrous to sparsely pubescent, and terete. Alternate leaves along these stems are 1¼–3' long and ½–1' across; they are elliptic, oblong-elliptic, oblanceolate, or oblong-oblanceolate in shape and smooth along their margins. The leaves are usually glossy green in appearance, although sometimes they develop patches of red or yellow. The upper leaf surface is glabrous, while the lower leaf surface is glabrous to sparsely pubescent. The leaf bases taper gradually into slender petioles about ½–2' long. Individual flowers develop from the axils of the middle to upper leaves on erect to semi-erect pedicels about 1–3' long. Each flower is about 1' across, consisting of 5 yellow petals, 5 light green sepals, 10 yellow stamens, and a narrowly cylindrical pistil with a single style. The petals are obovate in shape with pale pinnate nerves, while the smaller sepals are lanceolate. Compared to the size of the flower, both the stamens and style are relatively short. Between the apex of the pedicel and the bottom of the pistil, there is a pair of tiny bractlets (about 1.0–1.5 mm. in length). The blooming period occurs from late spring to early fall, lasting several months. The flowers are diurnal. Afterwards, the flowers are replaced by cylindrical seed capsules about 1–1½' long. Each seed capsule has 5 narrow cells, and each cell contains a row of seeds. The seeds are enclosed in chunky outer coatings (endocarps); they are about 1.0-1.5 mm. in length. The root system is fibrous and fleshy. When the nodes of the stems lie on wet ground, they are capable of developing new fibrous roots, from which new plants are produced vegetatively. Sometimes the root system produces small bladders that keep individual plants more buoyant in the water. This plant often forms large colonies.

Creeping Water Primrose is locally common and native to southern Illinois, while in the rest of the state it is uncommon and probably adventive in most areas (see Distribution Map). This species is slowly spreading northward. Habitats include borders of ponds, shallow areas of lakes, sluggish streams, swamps, marshes, and ditches. In some of these habitats, Creeping Water Primrose can become the dominant shoreline plant, forming large colonies.

Ludwigia peploides var. glabrescens (Kuntze) Shinners:
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Jussiaea repens var. glabrescens Kuntze:
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Jussiaea repens L.:
Brazil (South America)
Chile (South America)
Colombia (South America)
Honduras (Mesoamerica)
Madagascar (Africa & Madagascar)
Peru (South America)
Uruguay (South America)
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Jussiaea diffusa Forssk.:
Madagascar (Africa & Madagascar)
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Ludwigia peploides subsp. glabrescens (Kuntze) P.H. Raven:
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Ludwigia adscendens (L.) H. Hara:
India (Asia)
Japan (Asia)
Nepal (Asia)
Philippines (Asia)
Pakistan (Asia)
Sri Lanka (Asia)
Thailand (Asia)
China (Asia)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand; widespread in Africa, S and SE Asia, Australia].

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Subtropical Himalaya, India, east to China, Malaysia, Australia.

Herbs perennial, with creeping or floating stems, rooting at nodes, with white, erect, short (1-3 cm), spindle-shaped pneumatophores in clusters at nodes of floating stems. Floating stems to 400 cm, terrestrial stems 20-60 cm, much branched, tips ascending, glabrous or densely villous. Petiole 5-20 mm; leaf blade oblong to spatulate-oblong, 0.4-7 × 0.7-3 cm, glabrous, lateral veins 6-13 per side, submarginal vein not prominent, base narrowly cuneate or attenuate, margin entire, apex obtuse to subacute. Sepals 5, deltoid-acuminate, 5-11 mm, glabrous or villous. Petals creamy-white with yellow base, obovate, 9-18 × 6-10 mm. Stamens 10; filaments white, 2.5-4 mm; anthers 0.7-1.8 mm; pollen in monads. Style white, 4-10 mm, glabrous; stigma discoid. Capsule light brown with dark brown ribs, cylindric, terete, 1.2-2.7 cm, 3-4 mm in diam., glabrous or villous, thickly walled, tardily and irregularly dehiscent; pedicel 1.5-5.5 cm. Seeds in one row per locule, firmly embedded in coherent cubes of woody endocarp fused to capsule wall, pale brown, oblong or elliptic, 1.1-1.3 mm, raphe inconspicuous. Fl. Apr-Nov, fr. May-Nov. 2n = 32*.

200-600 m

Jussiaea adscendens Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, 2: 297; Mant. Pl. 1: 69. 1767; J. repens Linnaeus.

Isoneotype for Jussiaea adscendens L.
Catalog Number: US 2794203
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: ; Original publication and alleged type specimen examined
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): C. Saldanha
Year Collected: 1969
Locality: Hassan District, Mysore. Belur - Gendehally road., Karnataka, India, Asia-Tropical
Microhabitat: In a pond.

Creeping Water Primrose is locally common and native to southern Illinois, while in the rest of the state it is uncommon and probably adventive in most areas (see Distribution Map). This species is slowly spreading northward. Habitats include borders of ponds, shallow areas of lakes, sluggish streams, swamps, marshes, and ditches. In some of these habitats, Creeping Water Primrose can become the dominant shoreline plant, forming large colonies.

Wet swampy places, flooded rice paddies, often floating in water at edges of ponds, tanks, ditches; near sea level to 1600 m.

The flowers are cross-pollinated primarily by bees, including honeybees, digger bees (Eucerine), and Halictid bees. Other visitors, such as flies and skippers, are less effective at cross-pollination. These insects obtain nectar and/or pollen from the flowers. Some insects feed destructively on Creeping Water Primrose. This includes the flea beetles, Altica litigata and Lysathia ludoviciana, and a leafhopper, Draeculacephala inscripta. The Mallard and possibly other ducks feed on the seed capsules. Because of the large dense colonies that this plant often forms, it provides good cover along shorelines for various insects, frogs, and other wetland wildlife. Photographic Location

Ludwigia peploides glabresens (Creeping Primrose)
(an older scientific name for this plant is Jussiaea repens; bees suck nectar or collect pollen, wasps and skippers suck nectar only, while Syrphid flies feed on pollen; wasps and some bees are effective pollinators of the flowers; observations are from Estes & Thorp; Lasioglossum nelumbonis was described as a collector of pollen by the authors, but this oligolectic bee requires pollen from very different plant species)

Bees (long-tongued)
Apidae (Apinae): Apis mellifera sn cp; Anthophoridae (Eucerini): Svastra cressonii sn cp fq

Bees (short-tongued)
Halictidae (Halictinae): Agapostemon melliventris sn cp fq, Augochlorella striata sn cp fq, Lasioglossum spp. sn cp fq np, Lasioglossum lustrans sn np fq, Lasioglossum nelumbonis sn np

Wasps
Vespidae (Eumeninae): Euodynerus hidalgo sn

Flies
Syrphidae: Eristalis sp. fp np, Toxomerus sp. fp np; Muscidae: Unidentified sp. fp np

Skippers
Hesperiidae: Atalopedes campestris sn np, Lerodea eufala sn np

Beetles
Chrysomelidae: Altica sp. np

Katydids
Tettigoniidae: Unidentified sp. (nymphs) fp np

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

Rounded Global Status Rank: T5 - Secure

The preference is full sun, wet conditions, and muddy soil, although this plant can adapt to shallow water as a floating aquatic. Creeping Water Primrose (Ludwigia peploides glabrescens) can spread aggressively in shallow wetlands and muddy areas. It is potentially invasive.

The plant is used medicinally for its febrifugal and antiswelling properties.