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Pistia stratiotes
Also called Tropical Duckweed, Nile Cabbage, Water Cabbage, Shellflower, Waterbonnet, Lettuce Water, Nile Lettuce
Water lettuce is a free-floating tropical aquatic plant that forms rosettes of soft, light green leaves on still or slow water. It grows fast in warm, nutrient-rich ponds and is invasive in many places, so keep it contained.
Pistia is a genus of aquatic plants in the arum family, Araceae. It is the sole genus in the tribe Pistieae which reflects its systematic isolation within the family. The single species it contains, Pistia stratiotes, is often called water cabbage, water lettuce, Nile cabbage, or shellflower. Its native distribution is uncertain but is probably pantropical; it was first scientifically described from plants found on the Nile near Lake Victoria in Africa. It is now present, either naturally or through human introduction, in nearly all tropical and subtropical fresh waterways and is considered an invasive species as well as a mosquito breeding habitat. The specific epithet is derived from a Greek word, στρατιώτης, meaning "soldier", which references the sword-shaped leaves of some plants in the genus Stratiotes.
The center of origin of Pistia stratiotes has long been a source of debate. Nativity to northern Africa is indicated by Egyptian hieroglyphics and reports of plants meeting the description of Pistia by Greek botanists, Dioscorides and Theophrastus in the Nile River. In addition, the co-evolution of Pistia stratiotes with various insects native to Brazil and Argentina, such as the water lettuce weevil, indicates a long-term native tenure in South America. Fossil specimens dating back to the late Pleistocene (~12,000 BP) and early Holocene (~3,500 BP) period are reported from Florida, indicating a native presence in the southeastern United States. Recent genetic evidence also suggests that Pistia is not actually a monotypic genus, as had been long assumed. Instead, Pistia appears to be composed of at least three genetically distinct, but morphologically and ecologically similar, species at a global scale.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pistia 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.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
