English: Blue mud plantain; Blue Mud-plantain; Ducksalad.
English:
Family:
PontederiaceaeRegion: North America, southern United States; Central Amrica, Mexico, South America.
Habitat: shallow, wet environments, mudflats, marshes, ditches, ponds, edges of slow-moving streams; in periodically flooded areas, tolerates fluctuating water levels; full sun to partial shade.
Ecological: provides cover for small aquatic animals; stabilize mud and sediments; filters water; absorb excess nutrients.
Uses: traditional medicine
BotanyHerb; annual; aquatic, submerged or in moist, muddy soils.
Root: fibrous roots.
Leaves: lance-shaped or heart-shaped, depending on environmental conditions; 3-10 cm long; long petioles; narrower and more elongated, when submerged; broader and heart-shaped when in mud.
Inflorescence: short stalks from the leaf axils; above the water or mud surface.
Flowers: pale blue; blooms in late summer and early fall.
Corolla: small; pale blue to lavender; funnel-shaped; six petals; blooming one at a time.
Sepals: Three green sepals.
Stamens: 6, three are longer than the others.
Ovary: superior.
Nectary: present.
Pollination: by insects, bees, small flies.
Fruit: small capsule, containing many tiny seeds.
Dispersion: by water or mud.