| Author | Nuttall | |
| Distribution | This species was collected in the central Piedmont (Randolph County) in 1970, but there appear to be no other records. Weakley's (2023) range map shows it "rare" in the Piedmont, presumably based on the above record.
This is a Southern species, ranging east to AL and FL. | |
| Abundance | Very rare if now historical. The editors have now ranked this as SH; the NC NHP does not have it in its database. Note that, even though Weakley (2023a) considered it as native to NC, the considerable disjunction northeastward to NC suggests that it might be better treated by this website as Uncertain Provenance. | |
| Habitat | The NC specimen was collected from a "Margin of alluvial field". In general, the habitats are low fields and margins of ponds, but it is not an aquatic, submerged plant. | |
| Phenology | In AL, the species appears in late winter and early spring, with all collections there from late February to early April (Alabama Plant Atlas website). Thus, in NC it likely occurs only from early to mid-spring. The NC collection is from May 18. | |
| Identification | This is a tiny wetland species, barely 2 inches long. It is a prostrate plant, such as on mud, rooting at nodes. The numerous opposite and spatulate/oblanceolate leaves are barely 1/6-inch long if even that. The tiny axillary fruit are wider than long, with a fissure down the middle and two rounded lobes at each end. In this species, "margin of fruit curled over on itself, appearing thickened; fruit developing underground" (Weakley 2018). C. terrestris is quite similar but has "margin of fruit narrow, thin; fruit developing aboveground" (Weakley 2018). These fruits are tiny, barely 1/15-inch long, and thus a hand lens or microscope will be needed to separate these two species. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | A synonym is C. nuttallii, though Weakley (2023a) maintains these as separate species.
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| Other Common Name(s) | None | |
| State Rank | [SH] | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | [W7] | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FACW link |
| USACE-emp | FACW link |
