''Echinodorus longiscapus'' is a perennial, aquatic plant of the Alismataceae, native to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

(

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

). It is cultivated as a pond or aquarium plant.

Description

Leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

long-petioled, petioles 1.5 - 3 x longer than the blades. Blades oval, ovate or cordate, at the tip obtuse or shortly acuminate, at the base lobate or abrupt, 9 – 11 cm long x 7 – 8 cm wide, in the terrestrial forms often only 3 cm long x 2 cm wide. Submersed blades oval or ovate, often nearly rounded. Blades trimmed with pellucid lines to 2 mm long. Stem erect, longer than the

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

, glabrous or rarely scabrous, 30 – 80 cm long.

Inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

racemose having 3 - 9 whorls containing 6 - 12

flowers A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

each, proliferous.

Bracts In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

as long as the pedicels, or hardly longer, to 1.5 cm long, having 9 - 11 ribs and membraneous margins. Pedicels usually 1 - (2.5) cm long,

sepals A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

5 – 6 mm long having 16 - 20 undistinct ribs, petals white, 1.7 – 2 cm long, corolla 2.5 – 4 cm in diameter. Stamens 20 - 25,

anthers The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

as long as the filaments,

pistils Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...

numerous. Aggregate

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

globular or ovate, 5 – 7 mm in diameter. Achenes 2 - 2.3 mm long x 0.9 – 1 mm wide having usually 4 lateral ribs and (1) - 3 glands placed in a row in the upper half of the body. Beak erect or bent, 0.5 mm long.Caccavari, M. 1983. Boletín de la Sociedad Argentina de Botánica 22(1–4): 247, figs. 1–2.

Cultivation

Propagated by division or adventitious plantlets. Seeds germinate freely. Easy to cultivate and seems to withstand a wide range of water conditions and temperatures.

References

External links

South American distribution
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4037901 longiscapus Flora of Brazil Flora of Paraguay Flora of Uruguay Flora of Argentina Plants described in 1902 Freshwater plants