Limnocharis

Limnocharis flava

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Alternative Name(s): Yellow Burrhead.

Family: Limnocharitaceae.

Form: Water plant

Origin: Native from Mexico to Paraguay and to the Caribbean Islands.

Flowers/Seedhead: Flowers: At the end of long stems. Flowers recurving when fruiting and fruit buried in mud or water. Flowers year round.

Description: Perennial herb to 1 m high and rooting in mud. Leaves broad-ovate, thick, 5–30 cm long, 4–25 cm wide, leaf stalk (petiole) 5–75 cm long, green. Fruit compound, to 2 cm wide, each fruit containing about 1,000 seeds. Seeds dark brown, horseshoe-shaped, to 1.5 mm long with obvious ridges.

Distinguishing features: Distinguished by succulent angled stems and triangular leaf stalks; leaves with a number of longitudinal and transverse veins; pale yellow flowers in clusters (umbels) of 5–15; 3 larger petal-like tepals, pale yellow, about 1.5 cm long; more than 15 stamens (male organs of a flower) in each flower.

Dispersal: Spread by seed and vegetatively. Parts of fruit (follicles) float. Water dispersed.