Family: Oenotharaceae

Synonyms: Jussiaea angustifolia Lam., Jussiaea suffruticosa L.

Common names: Wild Clove, Jamaica Loosestrife

A bi-annual aquatic broadleaf shrub, stout, coarse, sometimes woody weed that can grow to 100 cm tall. Its stem is erect, much-branched, glabrous to densely hairy. Leaves are simple, alternate, lanceolate to ovate, 6-15 cm long, 4 cm wide. Inflorescence is a solitary, axillary, sessile; petals yellow, broadly ovate or cuneate, 1-1.5 cm long, 2-7 mm wide. The fruit is green or purplish, cylindrical to somewhat club-shaped, 4-celled, thin walled, 1.5-4.5 cm long, 2-8 mm wide with 8 ribs; several rows of seeds are in each cell.

This weed is propagated by seeds, some of which germinate immediately in wet or flooded soils.

It grows well in wet and aquatic conditions, and it is very competitive with rice. It is very common in flooded rice and in wet soils in several countries of Latin America and Asia.

Countries: Burkina Faso, Fiji, Indonesia, Nepal

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