Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains
Pilea Lindl. -- Clearweed
Monoecious or dioecious, glabrous annuals; stems erect to decumbent, simple or branched, rather brittle and watery, translucent; cystoliths appearing as numerous minute, whitish or dark lines on the foliage of dried specimens. Leaves simple, opposite; blades thin and translucent, ovate, with 3 major veins arising from the base, broadly cuneate to rounded at the base, serrate, the teeth prominent, obtuse to rounded, the terminal tooth short to elongate; petioles subtending the inconspicuous, connate, membranous stipules. Flowers greenish, clustered in axillary cymes; male flowers with 4 sepals and 4 stamens; female flowers with 3 sepals, these often unequal; staminodes minute and scalelike; ovary superior, stigma sessile. Fruit a flattened, ovate achene, subtended by the persistent calyx.
Reference: Fernald, M. L. 1938. Pilea in eastern North America. Rhodora 38:169-170.
| Lead | Characteristic | Go To |
| 1 | Achenes dark olivaceous to nearly black with a narrow pale margin. | P. fontana |
| 1 | Achenes green, often marked with purple. | P. pumila |
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