Diodia virginiana L.

Virginia Buttonweed

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Virginia Buttonweed is a native herbaceous perennial in the Madder family (Rubiaceae). It can be found throughout Alabama. Virginia Buttonweed occurs along the margins of ponds and lakes, along streams and rivers, in low pastures and lawns, and in wet roadside ditches. It is a perennial with a woody root crown. Several stems radiate out from each crown. The stems are often initially erect, but become procumbent and root at the nodes as they lengthen. The stems are angled, reddish or green in color, and pubescent or glabrous. If pubescent, the backward pointing hairs are often in rows. Leaves are opposite, sessile, elliptic to lanceolate in outline, with minute teeth along the margins. The pairs of opposite leaves are joined at the base by sheathing stipules with 3-5 erect bristles. The leaves may be glabrous or pubescent. Flowers are sessile in the axils of the leaves. The corolla has a filiform tube and 4 spreading lobes. The corolla is white in color and the inner surface is pubescent. The flowers easily detach. The fruit is leathery, ellipsoid in shape, and splits into 2 one-seeded indehiscent segments. Plants are often infected with Diodia Vein Chlorosis Closterovirus, which is transmitted by Banded-winged Whitefly (Trialeurodes abultilonea). The virus causes chlorotic vein banding and chlorosis of the leaves, making them appear yellow or white in color. Virginia Buttonweed can be a serious pest in lawns, nurseries, and in low fields.--A. Diamond

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Native FACW (NWPL)

Sorrie, B.A. 2016. Reinstatement of Diodia harperi (Rubiaceae), a southeastern USA coastal plain endemic. Phytoneuron 2016-3: 1–13.