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Hairy Seedbox

Ludwigia pilosa

Found in swamps, ditches, blackwater streams, other wet places. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you

53
Strong

Native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 94%

Height
Up to about 4 feet
Light
Partial shade, Full sun
Soil moisture
Moist to wet
Will it fit your yard?

Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source

Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.

At a glance

Life cycle
Perennial
Bloom
June to October

Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves

Recorded in 3 Virginia counties.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement.

1 of 2

Swamps

View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina
Named place / source context. Shown: Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, as titled by Museum of Fine Arts Boston; nineteenth-century artistic interpretation, a neighboring state.View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, Regis Francois Gignoux, 1850. Public domain. Source record.

Streams, rivers and their banks

Watauga Falls
Named place / source context. Shown: Watauga Falls, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Watauga Falls, Illustrator/engraver not confidently attributed; reproduced in Zeigler and Grosscup, The Heart of the Alleghanies (1883), 1883. Public domain. Source record.
Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

5CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA

Genus host records with ranges including VA · Ludwigia

  • Elophila gyralisWaterlily Borer Moth
  • Eudryas unioPearly Wood-Nymph
  • Junonia coeniaCommon Buckeye
  • Nematocampa resistariaFilament Bearer, Horned Spanworm Moth
  • Parapoynx seminealisFloating-Heart Waterlilly Moth, Waterlily Casebearer
Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
32BeesSoutheastern regional records

Southeastern regional records · Ludwigia

Individual names are not available yet.

Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
4BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Ludwigia

  • Aix sponsaWood Duck
  • Fulica americanaAmerican Coot
  • Gallinula galeataCommon Gallinule
  • Porzana carolinaSora
Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)

Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening

No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family
Onagraceae
Flower color
Yellow or green
Growing sources and scope
  • Bloom · “June to October” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
  • Flower color · “Yellow or green” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
  • Height · “Up to about 4 feet” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
  • Life cycle · “Perennial” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
  • Light · “Partial shade; Full sun (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
  • Soil · “Moist; Wet (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia

Conservation status

Virginia rankS1
Global rankG5
VA statusNot verified
Federal statusNot verified

Conservation source Global and federal source

In your garden

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Sources