FOG FRUIT
File Size: 61 KB
 
Lippia lanceolata  Michx.
[=Phyla lanceolata  (Michx. ) Greene]
Douglas County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 8-24 inches
Family: Verbenaceae - Vervain Family
Flowering Period:   June, July, August, September
Also Called: Northern fogfruit, frog-fruit, lanceleaf fogfruit.
Stems: Slender, trailing on ground, 8 to 24 inches long, often rooting at nodes, sparingly hairy or glabrous, branches sometimes erect; forms dense mats.
Leaves: Opposite, thin, bright green, lanceolate or oblong or ovate, 1/2 to 3 inches long, 1/5 to 1.2 inches wide, tapering at both ends, tip pointed, veins prominent, margins sharply toothed from below middle to tip.
Inflorescences: Spikes, solitary, initially globose, becoming cylindrical and elongating to 1.5 inches, arising from axils of leaves; on slender, erect stalks 1.5 to 3 inches long, usually equaling or surpassing the leaves.
Flowers: Calyx membranaceous, about as long as corolla tube; corolla irregular, 1/10 inch long, pale blue, purplish or white, center sometimes yellowish; stamens 4, arranged in 2 sets.
Fruits: Nutlets 2,each 1-seeded, egg-shaped, olive or yellowish.
Habitat: Wet habitats; ditches and margins of streams, ponds and lakes.
Distribution: East 2/3 of Kansas.
Comments: The extensive root system of this plant gives it the ability to serve as a soil anchor. Ducks will often consume the seeds.
 See Wedge-leaf frog fruit (Lippia cuneifolia).

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