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Brasenia
Also called Watershield
Brasenia is a genus with one species, Brasenia schreberi (watershield), a perennial aquatic plant with floating leaves that grows in shallow lakes, rivers and ponds. Its key feature is a thick mucilage coating on submerged parts, and it needs still, somewhat acidic, shallow water to thrive.
Brasenia is a genus belonging to the family Cabombaceae, consisting of one species, Brasenia schreberi, commonly known as watershield. It is widely distributed in North America, the West Indies, northern South America (Venezuela, Guyana), eastern Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Primorye), Australia, the Indian subcontinent, and parts of Africa.
Brasenia is a perennial aquatic plant with floating, peltate leaves and rhizomatous stems. It is identified by its bright green leaves, small purple flowers that bloom from June through September, and a thick mucilage that covers all of the underwater organs, including the underside of the leaves, stems, and developing buds. This mucilage may be an anti-herbivore defence trait, perhaps to deter snail grazing. It grows in shallow water of lakes, rivers and beaver ponds, particularly those with somewhat acidic water.
Brasenia is cultivated as a vegetable in China (where it is known as chúncài 莼菜) and where it is used in Hangzhou in the well-known local speciality "West Lake Water Shield Soup" and in Japan.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Brasenia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
