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Water-Plantain

Water-Plantain

Alisma plantago-aquatica

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How common: Very common

Water-Plantain is a tall, elegant plant of shallow water and muddy shores. It carries a loose, branching spray of many tiny white to pale pink flowers above a rosette of smooth, spoon-shaped leaves. You can spot it around lakes, slow rivers, ponds, and ditches. All parts are poisonous.

Did you know?

  • The flowers open mainly in the afternoon.
  • Its Latin name refers to the likeness of its leaves to plantain (Plantago).

About the species

Identification

Perennial water and shore plant 30–100 cm tall. Upright, unbranched stem from a short underground base; the stem base is thickened. Leaves all from the base in a rosette, usually 3–6, bright green, on long stalks; each leaf 5–12 cm, oval to spoon-shaped with a heart-shaped or wedge-shaped base, edges smooth. The flowering shoot carries a wide, much-branched, airy spray with many small flowers on 1–3 cm stalks; petals three, white or pale pink, opening in the afternoon. Later it forms a flat-topped head of many tiny hard seeds. Easy to tell from narrow-leaved water-plantains by its broad, spoon-like leaves. Flowers in Finland from June to September.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

shore

Toxicity

A poisonous plant – do not taste it. Source: HUS Poison Information Centre (Finland), tel. 0800 147 111.

Flowering

Jun–Sep

About the habitat

Grows on wet ground or in shallow water along lakes, slow rivers, brackish bays, ponds, and ditches, usually in soft, nutrient-rich mud. Common up to southern Lapland; scattered up to central Lapland.

Sources

Photo: Bff, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alisma plantago-aquatica20090812 259.jpg

Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Sisävedet: humusjärvet, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40111

Text: Pinkka: A Pohjolan kasveja - Abies-Allium, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40111

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratamosarpio

See also