2. Lysimachia hybrida Michx.

L. lanceolata Walter ssp. hybrida (Michx.) J.D. Ray

Steironema hybridum (Michx.) Raf. ex Small

S. lanceolatum (Walter) A. Gray var. hybridum (Michx.) A. Gray

Pl. 509 a, b; Map 2322

Plants with short, stout rhizomes (these rarely to 5 cm long). Stems 30–80 cm long, relatively stout (2–6 mm in diameter at the base), erect or strongly ascending (occasionally reclining), usually branched above the midpoint, glabrous or minutely glandular-hairy toward the tip, especially near the nodes. Basal leaves rarely persistent at flowering. Stem leaves opposite or occasionally in whorls of 3 at the uppermost nodes, the lowermost ones usually with a relatively well-defined petiole 0.5–1.5 cm long, the petioles progressively shorter and less well-defined toward the stem tip, the uppermost leaves often appearing essentially sessile, when present, the petiole somewhat flattened, narrowly winged, the margins pubescent with long, spreading hairs below the midpoint, the pubescence sparse or absent toward the tip. Leaf blades 3–12 cm long, 1.0–2.5 cm wide, those of the lowermost leaves ovate to lanceolate, becoming progressively narrower toward the stem tip, the uppermost leaf blades often linear to narrowly lanceolate, the bases accordingly rounded to angled or tapered, angled or somewhat tapered to a sharply pointed tip, the margins entire or more commonly roughened with minute papillae, the surfaces lacking gland dots, not punctate, green, glabrous; secondary veins evident. Inflorescences axillary from the uppermost nodes, of solitary flowers, the flower stalks 1–4 cm long, glabrous. Calyces mostly 5-lobed, the lobes 4–6 mm long, lanceolate, not gland-dotted or punctate, usually with 1–3(–5) evident veins. Corollas mostly 5-lobed, the lobes 5–10 mm long, obovate to broadly obovate, broadly rounded but usually with a minute sharp point at the tip, the margins sometimes somewhat uneven or irregularly toothed, yellow, densely glandular and with reddish markings on the upper surface toward the base, lacking purple spots or lines. Stamens shorter than the corollas, the filaments 2–3 mm long, not fused into a basal tube, glandular-hairy. Staminodes alternating with the stamens, slender. Styles 3–4 mm long. Fruits 3.5–5.0 mm long, broadly ovoid to globose. Seeds 1.2–1.8 mm long, irregularly elliptic, oblong, or rhombic in outline, triangular in cross-section, dark brown to black. 2n=34. May–September.

Scattered nearly throughout the state (eastern U.S. west to North Dakota and Oklahoma, sporadic farther west; Canada.). Margins of ponds, lakes, and sinkhole ponds, swamps, fens, banks of streams, bottomland forests, and bottomland prairies; also pastures, railroads, roadsides, and moist disturbed areas.

Lysimachia hybrida is closely related to L. lanceolata, and the two were once considered a single species by some botanists. However, L. hybrida is a larger plant with a thicker stem, lacks the slender stoloniferous rhizomes of L. lanceolata, has mostly narrower leaves, and longer stem internodes. Lysimachia hybrida also begins flowering slightly later than L. lanceolata.