Elatine triandra (Three-Stamen Waterwort) - photos and description

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Leaves notched at the apex


Fruit in above photo 


What's left of a flower in above photo

General: Semi-aquatic annual with a prostrate growth habit. Plants root at the nodes. This is probably the smallest plant photographed on this website.

Flowers: Flowers are tiny, white, single, crowd the stem in leaf axils, we measured a flower to 1.5 mm long.

Leaves: Leaves opposite below and in whorls near the stem tips. Leaves elliptical to oval, punctate, sessile or with a very short stalk, and with a small notch at the tip, or a squared tip. We measured a leaf at 4 mm long by 2 mm wide.

Height: Stem length listed in Budd's Flora to 35 mm long, we measured stems to 40 mm long. Plants are tiny, most plants with stems no longer than 30 mm.

Habitat: Shallow water, river shores, and mud flats.

Abundance: Very rare, ranked as an S2 (as of 2021) by the Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre.

Origin: Native.

When and where photographed: These photos were taken June 24th and July 18th, mud in dried creek bed, Cypress Hills, about 400 km southwest of our home in Regina, SK.