Hydrocharis morsus-ranaeL. [family HYDROCHARITACEAE ] (stored under name); Eichornia natans(P.Beauv.) Solms [family PONTEDERIACEAE ] Verified by James Edgar Dandy,
Related name
Hydrocharis morsus-ranae
Eichornia natans
Common name
European frog-bit, Flora of North America Vol. 22
Flora
Entry for Hydrocharis morsus-ranae Linnaeus [family HYDROCHARITACEAE]
Herbs, to 20 cm. Rhizomes absent; stStolon buds with 1 root. Leaves floating or, in dense vegetation, emergent; blade 1.2--6 ´ 1.3--6.3 cm; primary veins forming 75--90° angle with midvein, broadly curving, aerenchyma confined to midvein region (not margin to margin as in Limnobium), individual aerenchyma space (located ca. 1 mm from either side of midvein) 0.1--0.5 mm across its longest axis, 0.1--0.5 mm wide, 1 mm from midvein. Flowers: staminate flowers 1--5 in each spathe; pedicel to 4 cm; stamens 9--12 in 4 whorls; filaments basally not obviously connate; pistillate flowers solitary; pedicels to 9 cm; styles 2-fid for less than ½ length. Seeds 1--1.3 mm. 2n = 28 (Netherlands).
Phenology
Flowering spring--fall
Altitude range
10--50 m
Distribution
Eurasia.USA N.Y.Canada Ont.Canada Que.
Discussion
Hydrocharis morsus-ranae was planted in ponds beside Dow’s Lake in the Central Experimental Farm Arboretum at Ottawa in 1932 (P. M. Catling and W. G. Dore 1982). It apparently escaped from these ponds; by 1939 it was found in the Rideau Canal and by 1967 in the St. Lawrence River from Montreal as far as Lake St. Peter. It had spread into Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and a couple of localities in New York (Catling and Dore 1982).