Nymphoides hydrophylla, commonly known as crested floating-heart,[1] is an aquatic plant of the family Menyanthaceae native to tropical Asia. It has cordate floating leaves that support a lax inflorescence of dainty white flowers with fringed petal margins. Its slim stem (spear) is edible, and is used as vegetable in Taiwan, mostly produced at Meinong District, Kaohsiung.
| Nymphoides hydrophylla | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Menyanthaceae |
| Genus: | Nymphoides |
| Species: | N. hydrophylla
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| Binomial name | |
| Nymphoides hydrophylla (Lour.) Kuntze, 1891
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| Synonyms[citation needed] | |
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Flowers of N. hydrophylla are gynodioecious.[2] The fruit is a capsule bearing many flattened seeds.
The plants are commonly sold for use in ornamental water gardens. Outside their native range they can escape cultivation and become nuisance weeds, particularly in Florida. They are not killed by freezing, and have been reported in Lake Marion, South Carolina.[3]
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nymphoides hydrophylla.
- ^ "Nonindigenous Aquatic Species - Nymphoides cristata". US Geological Survey. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
- ^ V. V. Sivarajan; Shu-Miaw Chaw & K. T. Joseph (1989). "Seed coat micromorphology of Indian species of Nymphoides (Menyanthaceae)" (PDF). Botanical Bulletin of Academia Sinica. 30: 275–283.
- ^ Larry McCord (May 2007). ""New Nymphoides" in Lake Marion" (PDF). Newsletter. South Carolina Aquatic Plant Management Society. Retrieved 4 March 2011.