BALDELLIA RANUNCULOIDES
Common Names:- Lesser water-plantain
Homotypic synonyms:- Alisma ranunculoides, Damasonium ranunculoides,
Echinodorus ranunculoides, Sagittaria ranunculoides.
Meaning:- Baldellia (L) with features "like a buttercup"
Ranunculoides (L) Relating to its tiny green seeds looking similar to
those of buttercups.
General description:- A delicate, clump-forming perennial aquatic or semi-aquatic
herb, with a creeping or erect habit in shallow waters and damp margins.
Stems:-
1) Typically growing from 5 to 20 cm tall, slender, sometimes curving or creeping,
stolon-like, rising or floating near the water surface.
Leaves:-
1) Arranged in a basal rosette, narrowly lanceolate to linear-elliptical, tapering at
both ends, with 3 prominent parallel veins.
2) Crushed leaves often emit a distinct, pleasant coriander-like scent.
Flowers:-
1) Inflorescence, erect, flowering stalks, rising to 10-20 cm, bearing one or more
simple umbels containing 1 to 5 flowers each.
2) Flowers, 10 to 16 mm across.
3) Sepals, 3, short. green.
4) Petals, 3, delicate, broadly obovate, ranging from white to pale pink or soft
lilac/mauve, frequently featuring a yellowish center.
Fruit:-
1) Carpels, numerous, arranged in multiple rows expanding into a dense, rounded,
globose head as they mature.
2) Seeds, small, pointed, and structurally reminiscent of the seeds found in some
buttercups.
Key features:-
1) Leaves, dimorphic, submerged leaves are ribbon-like or strap-shaped, while aerial
leaves above water are narrowly lanceolate.
Toxicity:- No known major toxicity for pets or humans, but its sap can irritate skin
and the plant is not edible.
Habitat:- Thriving in shallow wetlands, marginal pond edges, and seasonally flooded
muddy soils.
Distribution:- Native to western, northern, and southern Europe, stretching
eastward to Turkey, the Azores, parts of North Africa (including Algeria), and the
Mediterranean. In the British Isles, it is native and scattered locally, though in long-
term decline.
Flowering time:- May through September (occasionally into October).
Status:- Near Threatened on the Great Britain Red List. While native to the UK,
Ireland, and parts of Europe and North Africa, it faces a long-term population decline
across its natural range.
Photos by:- Coutesy Wiki-commons