Water Snowflake

Rhizomes horizontal. Stems cylindric, unbranched. Petiole cylindric, 1-2 cm; leaf blade broadly ovate to subcordate, 3-18 cm, subcoriaceous, abaxially densely glandular, base cordate, margin entire; veins indistinct, palmate. Flowers many, clustered at nodes, 5merous, distylous. Pedicel cylindric, 3-5 cm. Calyx 3-6 mm, lobed to near base; lobes lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, apex obtuse. Corolla white with a yellow center, 7-12 mm; lobes ovate-elliptic, outside densely fimbriate-pilose, apex obtuse. Filaments flattened, linear, 1.5-1.7 mm; anthers sagittate, 2-2.2 mm. Style cylindric; stigma lobes triangular. Capsules elliptic, 3-5 mm, few seeded. Seeds brown, globose, 1.2-1.5 mm; seed coat smooth. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 18 [or 36].

Africa, E. Himalaya, India, Burma, China, Japan, Indo-China, Malaya, Australia to Fiji.

Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam; Australia, Pacific Islands].

600 m

Standing water; below 100-1600 m.

Menyanthes indica Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 145. 1753; Limnanthemum esquirolii H. Léveillé; Nymphoides humboldtiana Kuntze.

indica: of India;
occidentalis: Western.

Aquatic perennial herb. Stolons tufted, numerous, floating. Leaves circular, 5-15 cm in diameter, rarely larger. Flowers white with a yellow tube, lobes c. twice as long as the tube; sepals spreading, later closing around the capsule. Capsule ovoid, 4-5 mm in diameter, shorter than the calyx.

Pantropical

Plant habit

Nymphoides indica is an aquatic plant in the Menyanthaceae, native to tropical areas around the world. It is sometimes cultivated, and has become a minor weed in Florida, where it resembles the native Nymphoides aquatica. Common names include banana plant, robust marshwort, and water snowflake; {In Bengali: চাঁদমালা (Chandmala)}.