Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

MUD PLANTAIN

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Heteranthera limosa (Sw. ) Willd.

Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 2.5-10 inches

Family: Pontederiaceae - Pickerel-weed Family

Flowering Period: July, August, September,October

Also Called:

Blue mud plantain.

Stems:

Tufted; rooted in mud; stems submersed, elongate or emersed, contracted; erect or creeping, glabrous.

Leaves:

Basal rosette leaves sessile; blades linear to oblanceolate, 1.4 to 2.4 inches long, 1/8 to 1/5 inch wide; stalked leaves erect, standing out of water or blades floating on surface; stalks .8 to 5.2 inches long; blades ovate to elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, .4 to 2 inches long, 1/6 to 1.3 inches wide, firm; base truncate to wedge-shaped; tip rounded to pointed.

Inflorescences:

Solitary flower at tip of flowering stalk 1-10 inches long; sheathed by spathe; spathe .4 to 1.8 inches long, folded, long-tapering, glabrous.

Flowers:

Perianth salverform; top .2 to 1.2 inches across; tube .6 to 1.8 inches long; perianth lobes 6, linear-lanceolate, .2 to .6 inch long, white or light blue or purplish-blue; base of upper lobes light yellow at base; stamens 3, unequal; lateral 2 short, yellow, central one longer, pale blue or yellow.

Fruits:

Capsule, cylindrical, to .8 inch long, retained in spathe; seeds numerous, 1/50 to 1/16 inch long, longitudinally ribbed.

Habitat:

In shallow water or mud, stagnant water, pond edges, roadside ditches; erratic occurence from year to year.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Origin:

Native

Comments:

The flowers open soon after sunrise and wilt by mid-day.

Mud plantain