Gratiola neglecta (Clammy Hedge-Hyssop) - photos and description
General: Annual with a decumbent to erect growth habit, rooting where the stems touch the ground. Stem pubescent at top, sparingly hairy at bottom of stem.
Flowers: Flowers are solitary, growing from long pedicels from the leaf axils, tubular, with 4 lobes each cleft at the tip. Flowers are white, the outside of the flower tube is green with purple striping, while the inner tube has a yellow throat, and is bearded with yellow hairs. We measured a flower at 1 cm long. There are two longer outer bracts, linear, measured at 6 mm long and 2 mm wide, and 5 oblanceolate sepals which we measured at 5 mm long by 1 mm wide.
Leaves: Leaves are cauline, sessile, opposite, oblanceolate, with a few teeth. Leaf measured at 2 cm long by 8 mm wide. Leaves with very short hairs on top and bottom.
Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 20 cm, we measured plants to 10 cm tall.
Habitat: Muddy soil on edges of sloughs, creek beds, and field edges holding shallow water.
Abundance: Listed as fairly common in Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Saskatchewan.
Origin: Native.
When and where photographed: The above photos were taken August 1st and 8th in the Cypress Hills. We also noticed this plant in dried up small marsh / muddy area on the edge of a field just east of Regina, SK, on August 28th.