Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

WATERPOD

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Ellisia nyctelea (L. ) L.

Riley County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 4-16 inches

Family: Hydrophyllaceae - Waterleaf Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July

Also Called:

Aunt lucy.

Stems:

Erect or decumbent, simple or usually branched, angled, bristly-hairy.

Leaves:

Alternate above, opposite basally; deeply pinnately-divided, .8 to 3.4 inches long, .4 to 2.4 inches wide, sparsely bristly-hairy; divisions 5-13, lanceolate to linear-oblong, margins entire or few-toothed.

Inflorescences:

Solitary, on short stalks in or opposite leaf axils.

Flowers:

Small, inconspicuous; stalks mostly under 1/2 inch long; calyx 5-lobed; sepals lanceolate to triangular, united near base, tips pointed; corolla bell-shaped, 5-lobed, white to bluish or lavender, shorter than or equal to calyx; stamens 5, equal.

Fruits:

Capsule, drooping, more or less spherical, 1/5 to 1/4 inch in diameter, coarse-hairy, subtended by persistent calyx; seeds usually 4, spherical, 1/10 inch, dark brown to black, finely network-veined.

Habitat:

Stream banks, waste ground, open woods, thickets, open prairie sites, moist disturbed areas; sandy soils.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Uses:

The seeds are eaten by small animals and ground-foraging birds.

Comments:

Named in honor of John Ellis, 1711-1776, an Irish-born merchant and naturalist who discovered that coral was formed by animals.

Waterpod inflorescence