白花水龍

Perennial herb with creeping or floating stems, to 60 cm long, rooting freely at nodes, with white, upward, spindle-shaped aerophores arising in clusters at the node of the floating stem; stems much branched, the tips ascending. Leaves oblong to spatulate-oblong, 0.4-7 cm long, 0.7-4 cm wide, glabrous, the apex rounded or obtuse, margin entire, base narrowly cuneate or attenuate, the petioles 5-13 mm long. Flowers in leaf axils of the ascending stems. Bracteoles deltoid, in pairs near the base of the ovary. Sepals 5, narrowly triangular-lanceolate, deciduous, 5-11 mm long, 2-3.2 mm wide, glabrous to densely villous. Petals 5, creamy white, yellow at the base, broadly obovate, apex truncate or obtuse, base attenuate, 9-18 mm long, 6-10.5 mm wide. Stamens 10, antesepalous stamens 10, antesepalous stamens alternating with slightly shorter antepetalous stamens; all anthers extrorse, 0.7-1.9 mm long, filaments 2.5-4.5 mm long. Pollen grains shed individually. Disc with 5 depressed, inverted V-shaped nectaries each fringed with dense, villous hairs. Style 4-10.5 mm long, broadened toward both ends, glabrous; stigma discoid. Capsules glabrous to villous, subterete, 12-27 mm long, 3-4 mm thick, the pedicels 1.5-5.5 cm long. Seeds uniseriate in each locule, 1.1-1.3 mm long, firmly embedded in woody endocarp that fused to the hard capsule wall. 2n= 32. Flowers Apr-Nov; fruit May-Nov.

TAINAN: Tsochen to Nanhua, Peng 10566. PINGTUNG: Ssuchungchi, Koyama & Kao 8956, Peng 6816; Nanzenshan, Peng 7794. HUALIEN: Shoufeng, Peng 4372.

Asia, from the Punjab southwards to Ceylon and eastwards to southern China, southwards throughout Malesia to Australia. Taiwan, in paddy fields and about ponds in the lowland of the southern and southeastern part of the island.