Habit: Perennial herb; roots not septate; flowers bisexual.
Leaf: blade linear to ovate, tapered to base or petioled, base tapered to truncate, rounded, or +- lobed.
Inflorescence: peduncle generally smooth; pedicels < 45 mm in fruit.
Flower: receptacle +- flat; sepals generally 1--4 mm; petals entire to +- cut, white or pink; stamens generally 6; pistils many, free, in 1 whorl on margin of +- flat receptacle.
Fruit: body generally 1.5--3 mm, erect, generally strongly compressed, lateral walls opaque to translucent, abaxially thin-ridged; beak < body, generally lateral.
Species In Genus: +- 9 species: generally northern temperate.
Etymology: (Greek: ancient name)
Note: North American species need study.
Jepson eFlora Author: Charles E. Turner, Robert R. Haynes & C. Barre Hellquist
Unabridged Reference: Bjorkqvist 1968 Opera Bot 19:1--138Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)Key to Alisma
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