''Baldellia ranunculoides'', the lesser water-plantain, is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the family

Alismataceae The water-plantains (Alismataceae) are a family of flowering plants, comprising 20 genera (17 extant and 3 fossil) and 119 species. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the greatest number of species in temperate regions of the Northe ...

Synonyms

Alisma ranunculoides, Echinodorus ranunculoides, Sagittaria ranunculodes

Description

''Baldellia ranunculoides'' is an

aquatic plant Aquatic plants, also referred to as hydrophytes, are vascular plants and Non-vascular plant, non-vascular plants that have adapted to live in aquatic ecosystem, aquatic environments (marine ecosystem, saltwater or freshwater ecosystem, freshwater ...

which produced erect flowering stems that rise up to above the water surface. Each flower stalk bears one or two

umbel UMBEL (Upper Mapping and Binding Exchange Layer) is a logically organized knowledge graph of 34,000 concepts and entity types that can be used in information science for relating information from disparate sources to one another. It was retired ...

s of up to five

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s each, and often only a single flower. Each flower is in diameter, and has three petals. When not in flower, ''B. ranunculoides'' can be mistaken for lesser spearwort, ''

Ranunculus flammula ''Ranunculus flammula'', the lesser spearwort, greater creeping spearwort or banewort, is a species of perennial herbaceous plants in the genus ''Ranunculus'' (buttercup), growing in damp places throughout the Boreal Kingdom. It flowers June/Jul ...

'', which grows in similar locations.

Distribution

''Baldellia ranunculoides'' is found along the Atlantic and Baltic coast of western and northern

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and along the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

coasts of southern

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

. Recently found in eastern Newfoundland, Bristol's Hope barachois, Avalon Peninsula, the only location in North America. May have been introduced by a float (Sarracenia magazine, Newfoundland and Labrador Wildflower Society.

References

External links

* * Alismataceae Flora of Europe Flora of North Africa Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Freshwater plants {{alismatales-stub