''Limosella aquatica'' is a widespread species of flowering plant in the figwort family known by the common name water mudwort. It is native to much of the

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

world, where it grows in many types of wet habitat. It is

semiaquatic In biology, being semi-aquatic refers to various macroorganisms that live regularly in both aquatic and terrestrial environments. When referring to animals, the term describes those that actively spend part of their daily time in water (in ...

, growing in moist land habitat such as meadows, in mud and wet sand next to water, and partly submersed or floating in the water. It is a fleshy annual herb forming low tufts in muddy substrate. The leaf is made up of a

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

up to long but usually quite a bit shorter, tipped with a flat spoon-shaped blade up to long. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is an erect stalk bearing one tiny white to pink- or blue-tinted flower about wide. The fruit is a capsule up to wide containing many tiny seeds.

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External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
Scrophulariaceae Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Scrophulariaceae-stub