Phyla lanceolata (Michx.) Greene

Marsh Frogfruit; Northern Frogfruit; Lance Leaf Frogfruit

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Marsh Frogfruit is a native herbaceous perennial in the Verbena family (Verbenaceae). It can be found throughout Alabama, but is most common in areas with basic, heavy clay soils such as the Black Belt and Tennessee Valley. Marsh Frogfruit grows along streams and rivers, around ponds and lakes, and in wet roadside ditches. It is a perennial from rhizomes with creeping stems that root at the nodes. Flowering stems are upright. The stems are angled, green in color, and pubescent (when young) or glabrous. The leaves are opposite, lanceolate to elliptic in outline with an acute apex. They are short petiolate, with toothed margins from below the middle. The leaves are pubescent or glabrous. Flowers are produced in dense spikes from the axils of the leaves. The flowering stalks are longer than the leaves. The flowers open in whorls from the base to the apex of the spike. The corolla is white, light purple, or light pink in color with a yellow throat. The corolla has 5 lobes. The fruit separates into two nutlets. Marsh Frogfruit is available from nurseries that specialize in aquatic plants. The flowers are visited by many species of butterflies and bees, and Ducks and Geese consume the foliage and seed. Marsh Frogfruit prefers a consistently moist soil and full sun. Marsh Frogfruit is a rapid grower and can form dense stands that exclude other vegetation.--A. Diamond

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Native FACW+ (NWPL)

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