Stems erect, simple or branched, (1.2-)2-10 dm, glabrous; rhizomes slender; bulblets absent. Leaves opposite; petiole 0.1-0.5(-0.9) cm, ciliate at very base near nodes, cilia 0.1-0.8 mm; blade linear to narrowly lanceolate, 3.4-9 × 0.2-0.6 cm, base cuneate, decurrent, margins entire, revolute, eciliolate, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces not punctate, glabrous; venation single-veined or obscurely pinnate. Inflorescences axillary in distal leaves, solitary flowers (or verticils). Pedicels 0.5-2.8 cm, glabrous. Flowers: sepals 5, calyx not streaked, 3.5-6 mm, glabrous, lobes lanceolate, margins thickened; petals 5, corolla yellow, sparsely streaked with brownish-violet (sometimes obscure) resin canals, rotate, 7-13 mm, lobes with margins entire (sometimes slightly erose distally), glabrous, apex apiculate, stipitate-glandular adaxially; filaments weakly connate at very base, shorter than corolla; staminodes 0.6-0.9 mm. Capsules 3.5-5 mm, not punctate, glabrous (rarely sparsely stipitate-glandular). 2n = 34.
Flowering summer. Moist prairies, meadows, roadsides, springs, swamps, bogs, other wetlands; 0-600 m; Man., Ont.; Ala., Ark., D.C., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Ky., Md., Mich., Minn., Mo., N.Y., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Pa., S.Dak., Tenn., Va., W.Va., Wis.
Lysimachia quadriflora has been reported as an adventive from Massachusetts (B. A. Sorrie and P. Somers 1999).
Rather frequent in the lake area in marshes and springy areas about lakes and along streams. Farther south it is infrequent to local in springy places. It is sometimes found in wet prairies.
Erect, 3-10 dm from a short rhizome, usually with short branches from the upper nodes; lvs firm, usually ascending, linear, 3-8 cm נ2-7 mm, gradually tapering to the sessile base, the margins smooth and revolute or with a few cilia at the very base, the lateral veins obscure or obsolete; fls almost entirely in terminal clusters on the stem and branches; cal-lobes lanceolate, 4-6 mm; cor-lobes 7-12 נ5-9 mm; stamens distinct; staminodes triangular to subulate; 2n=34. Moist or wet soil, especially on prairies; Mass. to Ga., w. to Man. and Ark., chiefly n. of the Ohio R. and w. of the Appalachians, and in the Ozark region of Mo. July, Aug. (Steironema q.)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
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