ALISMACEAE 



WATER PLANTAIN FAMILY 



WATER PLANTAIN 



Alisma Plantago-aquatica L. 



The Water Plantain is a common perennial in shallow water 

 and muddy places from Massachusetts westward to Minnesota 

 and south to Florida and Texas. 



Leaves and the flowering 

 stalk grow from a stout, 

 branching, tuberlike stem 

 below the surface of the 

 ground. The parallel-veined 

 leaves vary greatly in size 

 and shape, being narrow to 

 broadly oval and i-6 inches 

 long. The flowering stalk, 

 4-36 inches high, has num- 

 erous branches arising from 

 the axils of very small 

 bracts and arranged in 

 whorls of 3-10. 



The blooming season is 

 June to September. Each 

 flower has 3 broadly ovate 

 sepals, green with whitish 

 margins, and 3 white or 

 pinkish petals. The few to 

 many pistils are in i whorl 

 on a small flat receptacle, 

 and are half as long as the 

 6 or 9 stamens. They ripen 

 into flattened akenes with 

 2 or 3 ribs on the back and i or 2 on each side. 



The Creeping Burhead, Echinodorus radicans (Nutt.) Engelm., 

 is so called because its stems or scapes are prostrate or creeping, 

 and they often root at the nodes. The coarse leaves are ovate to 

 heart shaped and 5-9-nerved. The heads of white flowers with about 

 20 stamens are in whorls of 3-12. The numerous akenes are 6-10- 

 ribbed, with 1 to several oval glands on each side, and a short in- 

 curved beak. This is a frequenter of swamps and ponds from Illinois 

 to North Carolina, Florida and Texas. 



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