General: Perennial aquatic herb from a slender rhizome; stems several, branched above, reddish-brown, covered with a gelatinous sheath, 5-40 cm long.
Leaves: Leaves floating, long-stalked, elliptic or oval, centrally attached to the stems, 5-12 cm long, 3-8 cm wide, gelatinous below.
Flowers: Solitary on 5-20 cm stalks; sepals and petals 3 (4) each, similar, purplish, linear-oblong, 10-15 mm long; stamens 12-18, purplish, slightly shorter than or equal to the petals.
Fruits: Oblong, leathery, 6-8 mm long, soon deciduous.
Ponds and slow-moving streams in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; common in SW BC, less frequent in SC BC; N to SE AK, E to NB and NS and S to FL, TX, and CA; Cuba, S America.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
