Pontederia ovata Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 288. 1753; Phrynium capitatum Willdenow (1797), nom. illeg. (included Pontederia ovata); Phrynium ovatum (Linnaeus) Druce (1914), not Nees & Martius (1823).

Plants ca. 1 m tall. Rhizomes tuberous. Basal leaves several; cauline leaf 1; petiole to 60 cm, pulvinus 3--7 cm, glabrous; leaf blade ovate-oblong to oblong, 25--50 × 10--12 cm, glabrous, base acute, apex shortly acuminate. Inflorescence sessile, capitate, ca. 5 cm in diam.; bracts purple-red, oblong-lanceolate, 2--3 cm, apex initially acute, shredding into fibers after anthesis. Flower pairs 3 per bract, sessile. Sepals linear, ca. 1 cm, sericeous. Corolla tube violet, shorter than calyx; lobes dark red, oblong-obovate. Outer staminodes light red, obovate, slightly corrugated; cucullate and callose staminodes yellowish, shorter than outer staminodes. Ovary sericeous. Fruit dark red, shiny, pyriform, ca. 1 cm, slightly 3-angled; exocarp hard. Seeds 2 or 3, shallowly grooved. Fl. May--Jul.

Wet shaded places in dense forests; 100--1400 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, S Yunnan [India, Vietnam].