Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Heteranthera reniformis Ruiz & Pavon
- Family: Pickerelweed (Pontederiaceae)
- Flowering: August-October
- Field Marks: This species is distinguished by its heart-shaped leaves and its 3-parted flowers borne within a sheathing spathe.
- Habitat: Shallow water, muddy shores.
- Habit: Creeping or floating perennial herb with thickened fibrous roots and slender rhizomes.
- Stems: Spreading to upright, smooth.
- Leaves: Alternate, simple, heart-shaped, rounded at the tip, smooth, on stalks up to 4 inches long.
- Flowers: 1-few in a spathe near the base of the plant.
- Sepals: 3, united with the petals to form a tube up to 1/3 inch long, white or pale blue.
- Petals: 3, united with the sepals to form a tube up to 1/3 inch long, white or pale blue.
- Stamens: 3, borne on the tube of the flowers.
- Pistils: Ovary superior, smooth.
- Fruits: Capsules ovoid, smooth, containing many seeds.
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