Diodia teres. a. Habit, b. Section of stem with leaves and young fruits, c. Seed. From Buchholtz 1968.

Diodia is a genus of about 30 species in tropical and warm parts of the Americas and Africa (Mabberley 1997). Linnaeus ([1753] 1957) knew the single species Diodia virginiana from Jan Gronovius’s Flora Virginica and from cultivation at the Hortus Cliffor tianus. Diodia teres was not described until 1788 when Thomas Walter named it in his Flora Caroliniana.