Wildflower (forb) · Onagraceae
Marsh seedbox
Ludwigia palustris
Marsh seedbox is recorded as native to 40 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,295 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Marsh seedbox at a glance
- Native in
- 1,295 counties, across 40 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −34°F
- Mature height
- 2 in PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −34°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Marsh seedbox is recorded as native to 40 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,295 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,295 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 41 counties
- Arizona 1 county
- Arkansas 38 counties
- California 22 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 40 counties
- Georgia 37 counties
- Illinois 69 counties
- Indiana 52 counties
- Kansas 34 counties
- Kentucky 58 counties
- Louisiana 55 counties
- Maine 16 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 41 counties
- Minnesota 9 counties
- Mississippi 28 counties
- Missouri 78 counties
- Nebraska 12 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 19 counties
- New Mexico 3 counties
- New York 42 counties
- North Carolina 83 counties
- Ohio 75 counties
- Oklahoma 13 counties
- Oregon 17 counties
- Pennsylvania 64 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Carolina 31 counties
- Tennessee 63 counties
- Texas 38 counties
- Vermont 12 counties
- Virginia 87 counties
- Washington 16 counties
- West Virginia 29 counties
- Wisconsin 40 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 2 in
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Stoloniferous
- Shape
- Prostrate
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 25 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 5 to 8.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 10 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −34°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 130
- Fire tolerance
- None
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Foliage color
- Gray-Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Yellow
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Onagraceae
- PLANTS symbol
- LUPA
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Ludwigia palustris (PLANTS symbol LUPA).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources