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Alismataceae
Water Plantain
Alisma plantago-aquatica
Clarity and purification.
- Family
- Alismataceae
- Genus
- Alisma
- Native to
- Cosmopolitan, Europe, Asia, North America, Australia
- Bloom season
- Summer
- Type
- aquatic marginal perennial
- Height
- 1-3 ft
- Sunlight
- full sun
- Soil
- wet, muddy margins
- Water
- high to aquatic
- Hardiness
- 5-9
- Lifespan
- perennial
Did you know
- Water plantain flowers open only in the afternoon — from about 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. — a phenological behavior called post-meridional anthesis timed to match the peak activity of its small bee and fly pollinators.
- Despite the common name, water plantain is completely unrelated to true plantain (Plantago) — the name reflects a superficial resemblance of the broad, strongly-veined leaves to those of the well-known medicinal Plantago.
- The genus Alisma was used in Chinese traditional medicine (called 'zexie') for thousands of years as a diuretic; modern research has confirmed that compounds in the plant have diuretic and blood lipid-lowering activity.
- Water plantain is one of the few truly cosmopolitan aquatic plants, naturally occurring on every inhabited continent — its seeds are dispersed in mud clinging to the feet of wading birds, particularly ducks and herons.
- A single water plantain plant can produce thousands of small, flat, disc-shaped seeds in a single season, each carrying a minute air pocket that allows them to float and disperse along waterways before sinking into mud.
Color meanings
0
purification
1
clarity
2
renewal