PONTEDERIA

Pontederia L., Sp. Pl. 288. 1753; Eichhornia Kunth, Encycl. 4: 129. 1843; Bailey, Stand. Cyclop. Hort. 2: 1104. 1919; Kashyap, Lahore Dist. Fl. 247. 1936; Mitra, Fl. Pl. E. Ind. 1: 25. 1958; Fl. North Amer. @ eFloras.org 26: 37, 38; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 3.

27 species

Pontederia crassipes

Pontederia crassipes Mart., Nov. Gen. Sp. Pl. Bras. 1: 9, plate 4. 1823; Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms, in A. DC & C. DC (Ed’s.) Monogr. Phan. 4: 527. 1883; Bailey, Stand. Cyclop. Hort. 2: 1104. 1919; Kashyap, Lahore Dist. Fl. 247. 1936; Kaur & Sharma, Fl. Sirmaur. 612. 2004; Fl. North Amer. @ eFloras.org 26: 40; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 3.

A free-floating (or rooted in mud), stoloniferous, perennial aquatic herb; stem short; stolons greenish or purplish, long, apically producing new plants. Roots many, long, fibrous. Leaves rosulate, erect; leaf blade 4.5-11 cm x 5-10 cm, leathery, glabrous, densely-veined, glabrous, broadly ovate, rhomboid or orbicular, margin entire and undulate, subacute, apex rounded or obtuse, base broadly cuneate, shallowly cordate or rounded; petiole glabrous and spongy, 4-30 cm long, with a fusiform bulbous portion about the middle. Flowering stem determinate, usually emersed bearing an inflorescence. Inflorescence bracteate, spike with 6-15 spirally arranged flowers on 5-12.5 cm long peduncle, peduncle spongy and glabrous excepting top (glandular-pubescent). Spathe obovate, 4-11 cm long. Flowers 5-6 cm long and ca. 6.5 cm across, lilac-blue, bisexual, zygomorphic, hypogynous; pedicel +/- 2 cm long. Flowers open in the morning and wither by night. Perianth ca. 5.7 cm long, connate below; tube green, glandular, 2-3 cm long; lobes/segments 6 in 2 whorls of 3 each, 3-3.7 cm x 1.5-2 cm, obovate to ovate-oblong, petaloid, lilac-blue, posterior segment with a bright yellow, blue-bordered blotch at centre adaxially, other lobes subequal, but lower one (anterior) narrower. Stamens 6, inserted on proximal part of perianth, 3 anterior stamens exserted, 2.2-2.5 cm long; filaments curved, glandular hairy; 3 shorter filaments included, 6-9 mm long, glabrous or hairy near anther; anthers ca. 2.5 mm long, purple-blue, oblong, dorsifixed, dehiscence longitudinal by slits, introrse. Carpels 3, syncarpous, ovary ca. 8 mm long, ovoid, glabrous, incompletely 3-locular, parietal placentation, ovules many; style ca. 1.3 cm long, filiform, curved, glandular-pubescent; stigma capitate, glandular.

Fruits not observed.

Flowering and Fruiting: Throughout the year
Common Names: Common Water Hyacinth