''Penthorum sedoides'', known by the common name ditch stonecrop, is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

forb A forb or phorb is an herbaceous flowering plant that is not a graminoid (grass, sedge, or rush). The term is used in biology and in vegetation ecology, especially in relation to grasslands and understory. Typically these are dicots without woo ...

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

to the eastern United States and Canada USDA, NRCS. 2014. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA. which produces small white flowers in summer.

Description

''Penthorum sedoides'' is 10 to 80 centimeters tall. The erect lower portion of the stem is smooth, but the curved branching inflorescence is covered in glandular hairs. The lanceolate finely serrated leaves are 2 to 18 centimeters long, and 0.5 to 5.5 centimeters wide. The flowers are about half a centimeter wide, with 10 stamens and no petals. The fruit is a star shaped capsule consisting of 5 carpels united at the base, which turns red in autumn. 'eFloras (2008). Published on the Internet (http://www.efloras.org). Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.

Distribution and habitat

''Penthorum sedoides'' is widely distributed in the United States and Canada. It has been recorded in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and West Virginia, as well as the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec. It is listed as a species of special concern by the state of Rhode Island. ''Penthorum sedoides'' is only native to the eastern half of the continent, in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

it is an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

found in commercial

cranberry Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry ...

bogs. In

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, ''Penthorum sedoides'' grows in

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s such as alluvial swamps, floodplain pools, rocky or sandy shores, fens, marshes,

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

ponds, and disturbed wetlands. Virginia Botanical Associates. (2014). Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora (http://www.vaplantatlas.org). c/o Virginia Botanical Associates, Blacksburg.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q16987744 Saxifragales Flora of North America