Appearance
This is a perennial herb growing from a caudex in the water or mud that typically reaches a height of about 0.7 meters and a spread of 0.25 meters. It produces lance-shaped leaves 12 to 20 centimeters long and 4 wide on long petioles; leaves which remain submerged in water are smaller and less prominently veined. The inflorescence is mostly erect and up to half a meter tall.It produces a wide array of small pinkish-purple three-petalled flowers that open in the morning, from June until August. The fruit is a tiny achene up to 2 or 3 millimeters long clustered into an aggregate fruit of about 20 units. The seeds are reddish-brown and about 1.5 millimeters long.
Naming
The water plantain "Alisma plantago-aquatica" has acute leaf tips not tapering to a stalk. The flowers of A. plantago-aquatica also typically open in the afternoon, and the leaves are wider.References:
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