WATERLEAF FAMILY 



HYDROPHYLLACEAE 



APPENDAGED WATERLEAF 



Hydrophyllum appendiculatum Michx. 



The Appendaged Waterleaf is a very common spring flower 

 in woods from Ontario and New York to North CaroHna, west 

 to Minnesota and Kansas. It is perennial by a scaly under- 

 ground stem whose 

 growth allows the 

 plant to spread rapid- 

 ly. The leaves remain 

 green all winter. 



The flowering 

 stems are rather 

 weak, considerably 

 branched and i-2 feet 

 long. The lower and 

 basal leaves are pin- 

 nately divided into 5 

 or 7 lobes, but most of 

 the stem leaves are 

 like those shown. All 

 are more or less vari- 

 egated with greenish 

 white. 



While this Waterleaf is in bloom from May to June it is often 

 the most conspicuous herb through large areas of forest. The 

 calyx is 5-parted nearly to the base and in each sinus there is a 

 little reflexed lobe or appendage. The violet or purple corolla is 

 5-lobed and bell shaped. The 5 stamens are attached near its 

 base and alternate with the lobes. The filaments are hairy. The 

 pistil consists of a hairy i-celled ovary, a long slender style and 

 2 stigmas. The fruit is a spherical capsule about one-eighth of an 

 inch in diameter and containing 1-4 seeds. 



With lobed but not divided leaves much on the order of this 

 plant is the Broad-leaved Waterleaf, Hydrophyllutn canadense L., 

 occasionally found in patches throughout Illinois. However its 

 calyx has minute if any appendages, the plant is less tall, and 

 most of its leaves are basal. The stem is nearly smooth, whereas 

 that of the Appendaged Waterleaf is hairy. In this species, too, the 

 capsule is generally slightly larger. The Broad-leaved Waterleaf lives 

 in woods from Massachusetts and southern New York to North 

 Carolina and Illinois. 



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