Burhead

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Burhead

Burhead leaf

Burhead fruiting

Burhead flower

Burhead leaf

Burhead habit

Burhead leaves

Burhead achenes

Burhead habit

Burhead flower

Morphology

Stem

Flowering stem (scape) erect, simple or branched, slender or robust.

Leaves

Variable, basal, simple, mostly emersed: petiole usually present and long; blade elliptic to lanceolate or ovate, .8 to 8 inches long, .2 to 4.8 inches wide, parallel-veined, base tapered to truncate or cordate, margins entire or undulate.

Inflorescence

Racemes or rarely panicles, erect, terminal; flowers in whorls of 3-8, each whorl 1-3 flowered.

Flower

1/4 to 1/2 inch across; stalks spreading to ascending, .25 to 1 inch long; sepals 3, distinct, ovate, .16 to .2 inch, spreading to recurved; petals 3, white, ovate to obovate, .16 to .28 inch; stamens 9-15; pistils 45-200, arranged spirally in spherical head.

Fruit

Fruiting heads ca. .3 inch wide at maturity; achenes plump, oblanceolate, .1 to .14 inch, evenly 3-5-ribbed to sharply ridged, beak erect or oblique, ca. .04 inch; seeds horseshoe-shaped, brown, irregularly honeycombed.

Ecology

Habitat

In shallow water or mud flats of ponds and lakes, stream edges, ditches; muddy clay or sandy soils.

Distribution

East 4/5 of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

Sometimes used in tropical fish aquariums.

Additional Notes

Synonyms

Alternative scientific names that have been used for this plant.