This diploid (2n = 14) is a generally uncommon to rare in marshy shorelines around old sloughs and ponds, mostly on the Atlantic Coastal Plain and Piedmont, but also scattered west to Mo. All colls. from Ky. are referable to var. shortii (Dur. ex Pennell) Gleason, with relatively large flowers and leaves; this taxon may be a meaningful western variant. Also expected is the southern relative, G. brevifolia Raf., which has been found in Tenn. close to Ky. at two sites: Montgomery Co., 1 mile ESE of Guthrie; and Morgan Co., on banks of Obed Rv. (D. Estes, pers. comm.). G. brevifolia differs in its narrower sepals (linear versus lanceolate) and narrower leaves (linear-lanceolate versus ovate), with less serration (2-3 teeth per margin versus 4-6). Early colls. of C.W. Short from Ky. (Kew, PH) were named brevifolia by G. Bentham (in DeCandolle's 1846 Prodromus) or G. shortii by E. Durand, but viscidula was not described until 1919, and ssp. shortii was not formalized until Pennell (1935). Short's colls. were probably from the wetlands of BATH or ROWA (Campbell et al. 1992). Another related species, the tetraploid, G. aurea Michx. (= G. lutea Raf.), has been reported from Ky. but probably in error (see M for details).