Latin name

Ludwigia adscendens (L.) Hara

Family

Onagraceae

Common name(s)

Creeping water primrose

Synonym(s)

Jussiaea adscendens L. (basionym), J. repens L.

Geographical distribution

Asia: China (including Hong Kong) and Japan.

South and Southeast Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Rest of the world: Angola, Argentina, Botswana, Chile, Colombia, Benin, Ghana, Honduras, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, New Guinea, Peru, Puerto Rico, Senegal, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, United States of America, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Morphology

A floating or creeping perennial weed.

Stem: rooting at nodes, usually hairless with conspicuous white, spindle-shaped, and spongy pneumatophores clustering at nodes of floating stems.

Leaf: broadly oblong-elliptic, glossy green with pale lateral nerves, 4—7—cm—long.

Inflorescence: flowers borne in axils of upper leaves; petals 5, creamy white and yellow at base.

Fruit: slender, hairy capsule, approximately cylindrical in any cross section but of varying diameters 2—3.5—cm—long.

Biology and ecology

Well adapted to flooded conditions and grows in wet, swampy places, lowland rice paddies, and canals. It propagates by plant fragments and seeds; flowers year-round.

Agricultural importance

Can be troublesome weed where there is standing water; a weed in dry-seeded, deepwater, and transplanted rice crops.

Management

Cultural control: hand weeding is a common and effective method of controlling this weed in lowland rice.

Chemical control: applications of MCPA and 2,4-D as postemergence treatments. Quinclorac + bensulfuron or molinate + 2,4-D are also reported to be effective.

Selected references

Caton BP, Mortimer M, Hill JE. 2004. Weeds of rice in Asia. Los Baños (Philippines): International Rice Research Institute. 116 p.

Holm L, Pancho JV, Herberger JP, Plucknett DL. 1979. A geographical atlas of world weeds. New York (USA): John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 391 p.

Moody K. 1992. Weeds of cropped areas in the Philippines. Philipp. J. Weed Sci. 19:31-78.

Moody K, 1989. Weeds reported in rice in South and Southeast Asia. Los Baños (Philippines): International Rice Research Institute. 442 p.

Moody K, Munroe CE, Lubigan RT, Paller Jr. EC. 1984. Major weeds of the Philippines. Los Baños (Philippines): University of the Philippines. 328 p.

Pablico PP, Moody K. 1986. A dry season lowland rice (Oryza sativa) weed survey in Central and Southern Luzon, Philippines. Philipp. J. Weed Sci. 13:39-49.

Raju RA, Reddy MN, 1986. Protecting the world's rice crops. Agric. Inf. Dev. Bull. 8(2):17-18.

Raven PH. 1977. Onagraceae. Flora Malesiana Ser. 1 8(2): 98-113.

Soerjani M, Kostermans AJGH, Tjitrosoepomo G. 1987. Weeds of rice in Indonesia. Jakarta (Indonesia): Balai Pustaka. 716 p.

Contributors

JLA Catindig, RT Lubigan, and DE Johnson