Synonyms: Anagallis APNI*
Description: Perennial herbs usually without rosettes (young plants may have rosette form); stems erect to prostrate, pubescent towards the apex with multicellular glandular hairs or glabrous, often stoloniferous.
Leaves opposite, alternate or occasionally in whorls.
Flowers in racemes, panicles or corymbs or solitary and axillary. Sepals free. Corolla yellow, white, pinkish, red, orange or blue. Staminodes lacking. Ovary superior.
Capsule dehiscent from the apex (splitting longitudinally), usually by 5 valves or occasionally splitting irregularly, or circumsciss (splitting transversely).
Distribution and occurrence: World: 150–250 species, cosmopolitan, especially Northern Hemisphere. Australia: 8 species, N.S.W., Qld, Vic., Tas., N.T., S.A., W.A.
Formerly placed in Myrsinaceae. Reference: P.G. Kodela, Lysimachia (Myrsinaceae) in New South Wales, Telopea 11(2): 147–154 (2006).
Text by based on G.J. Harden, Fl. NSW Vol. 1 (1990); updated by P.G. Kodela, May 2014, March 2017
Taxon concept: Australian Plant Census (accessed March 2017)
Taxa not yet included in identification key
Lysimachia vulgaris
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Capsule circumsciss; flowers red, pink, orange or blue; stems quadrangular with prominent longitudinal keels, glabrous; leaves sessile, 2–25 mm long | 2 |
| Capsule dehiscing from the apex into more or less triangular valves, or rarely splitting irregularly; flowers yellow; stems terete to angular, lacking prominent longitudinal keels, pubescent towards the apex; leaves petiolate or sessile, 0.8–90 mm long | 3 |
| 2 | Leaves opposite; petals red, pink, orange or blue; petals longer than sepals | Lysimachia arvensis |
| Leaves alternate; petals white to pink; petals shorter than sepals
Back to 1 | Lysimachia minima |
| 3 | Flowers white to pinkish | 4 |
| Flowers yellow
Back to 1 | 5 |
| 4 | Leaves not fleshy; pedicels 1–5 mm long; petals white to pinkish | Lysimachia fortunei |
| Leaves slightly fleshy; pedicels usually 5–15 mm long; petals white
Back to 3 | Lysimachia mauritiana |
| 5 | Stems erect; leaves elliptic to narrowly elliptic, lanceolate or oblanceolate, mostly 4–9 cm long; flowers in panicles or racemes | Lysimachia vulgaris var. davurica |
| Stems ± prostrate; leaves ovate to broadly ovate or ± spatulate or orbiculate, to 3.5 cm long; flowers simple
Back to 3 | 6 |
| 6 | Stems and leaves with hyaline, septate hairs; corolla close to or barely exceeding length of the calyx; sepals and peduncles with hairs | Lysimachia japonica |
| Stems and leaves glabrous; corolla distinctly exceeding the calyx; sepals and peduncles glabrous
Back to 5 | Lysimachia nummularia |
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