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Photographer: Stephen L. Solheim
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Family Verbenaceae
Phryma leptostachya L.
American lop-seed
Phryma: name erroneously given by Bauhin as the Latin equivalent of the Greek Phyrama, an inferior grade of the resin of the metops “tree “ a north African umbellifer. Literally, something mixed and kneaded, dough.
leptostachya: leptos for "thin;" stachya for "spike;" hence Latin for "slender-spiked"
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| Status: | Native |
| Plant: | erect, perennial, 1'-3' tall forb; stems square |
| Flower: | pink to white, 4-parted, 1/4" wide, tube narrow and 2-lipped, lower lip with 3 spreading lobes; inflorescence an interrupted spike both terminal and in a few upper leaf axils, the flowers opposite and horizontal;  blooms July-Aug. |
| Fruit: | 1 dry, drooping seed with a hooked tip |
| Leaf: | opposite, simple; lower on long stalks, upper stalkless |
| Habitat: | moist; woods, forests |
| (Glossary) |
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