Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Hottonia inflata Elliott
- Family: Primrose (Primulaceae)
- Flowering: April-August
- Field Marks: The submersed leaves of this species are deeply pinnately divided. The hollow stalks of the inflorescence which extend above water are alternately swollen and constricted, with whorls of white flowers at each constriction.
- Habitat: Quiet water, sometimes on wet soil.
- Habit: Aquatic perennial herb with fibrous roots.
- Stems: Submersed, elongated, bearing a cluster of leaves at its summit; stems above water actually the stalks of the inflorescence, green, hollow, swollen, constricted, forming joints 1-2 inches apart.
- Leaves: Submersed, up to 2 1/2 inches long, deeply pinnately divided, smooth.
- Flowers: 3-10 in whorls from each constriction of the hollow stalks of the inflorescence, white, each flower subtended by a linear bract up to 1 1/2 inches long.
- Sepals: 5, green, united only at base, ascending, linear, up to 1/2 inch long.
- Petals: 5, white, forming a tube, up to 1/4 inch long.
- Stamens: 5, much shorter than the petals.
- Pistils: Ovary superior, ovoid, with a very short style.
- Fruits: Capsule spherical, smooth, up to 1/6 inch in diameter.
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