Lechea minor

Lechea minor
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class:	Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Order:	Violales
Family:	Cistaceae
Genus:	Lechea
Species:	L. minor
Binomial name
Lechea minor L.
Natural range of Lechea minor from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: thymeleaf pinweed

Description

This species can be frequent where it occurs (FSU Herbarium).

"Perennial herbs with tap roots and basal rosettes of procumbent, leafy stems late in the season; early stems erect, several from a crown, freely branched above, appressed or spreading pubescent. Leaves opposite, subopposite, whorled or subverticillate on lower part of stem, usually alternate above, usually short-petiolate; leaves of the winter rosettes usually whorled or subverticillate. Inflorescence of scroppoid cymes or racemes in a panicle or theyrse. Sepals 5, outer 2 linear, inner 3 elliptic to ovate; petals 3, reddish or maroon, usually shorter than the sepals; stamens mostly 5-15; stigmas 3, red, plumose. Capsule 1-3 seeded; seeds reddish brown or brown ca. 1 mm long." - Radford et al 1964

"Stems appressed pubescent, 2-7 dm tall with mostly spreading ascending branches; principal stems 1-2 mm in diam. Leaves oblong to elliptic, spreading to spreading-ascending, 6-12 mm long, 1-3 mm wide, glabrous above, ciliate, pubescent beneath mostly on the midrib and near the margins; leaf arrangement similar to no. , but opposite and whorled arrangement often higher into the inflorescence; petioles ca. 1 mm long. Inner sepals shorter than the capsule, 1-1.5 mm long, outer slightly longer. Capsule ellipsoid 1.2-1.7 mm long, 0.7-1 mm broad, 3-seeded." - Radford et al 1964

Ecology

Habitat

This species can be found in sandy soils in open fields, open bogs, and longleaf pine forests (FSU Herbarium). It also occurs in human disturbed areas such as powerline corridors and in old roadbeds (FSU Herbarium). Associated species include Longleaf pine and wiregrass (FSU Herbarium).

Seed bank and germination

Several short-lived perennial forbs also have a seed bank persistent for at least several years.

Fire ecology

Can grow in areas that area annually burned (FSU Herbarium)

References and notes

Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: June 2014. Collectors: Robert K. Godfrey, Kevin Oakes, and R. Komarek. States and Counties: Florida: Leon and Franklin. Georgia: Baker, Grady, and Thomas.

Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 720-1. Print.