• You are here:
• Simple Key
• Aquatic plants
• Water plants with leaves and stems
• Nymphoides cordata

Nymphoides cordata — little floating-heart

Facts

Little floating-heart has small, floating, heart-shaped leaves with purple undersides. The Seminole used this plant to treat 'turtle sickness': trembling, short breath, and cough.

Habitat

Lacustrine (in lakes or ponds), riverine (in rivers or streams)

Characteristics

• Clonal plantlets

  Turion length

  0 mm

• Flowers

  Anther color

  there is a noticeable pink, reddish or purplish tint to the anthers

  Anther length

  Up to 10 mm

  Carpels fused

  the carpels are fused to one another

  Flower lower lip length

  0 mm

  Flower position

  the flowers are above the surface of the water

  Flower symmetry

  there are two or more ways to evenly divide the flower (the flower is radially symmetrical)

  Inflorescence type

  the inflorescence is an umbel (with an axis so short it appears the flowers all originate from the same point)

  Inflorescence width

  5–10 mm

  Length of flower stalk

  5–60 mm

  Length of peduncle

  Up to 30 mm

  Nectar spur

  the flower has no nectar spurs

  Number of carpels

  2

  Ovary position

  • the sepals and/or petals are attached above the ovary
  • the sepals and/or petals are attached below the ovary

  Palate on corolla

  no

  Petal and sepal arrangement

  the flower includes two cycles of petal- or sepal-like structures

  Petal appearance

  the petals are thin and delicate, and pigmented (colored other than green or brown)

  Petal color

  white

  Petal fringed edges

  the petals are fringed

  Petal fusion

  the perianth parts are fused to form a tube, cup, or bell shape

  Petal hairs on inner/upper surface

  there are no hairs on the inner/upper petal surface

  Petal length

  5–8 mm

  Petal number

  5

  Petal or sepal number

  there are five petals, sepals, or tepals in the flower

  Pistil number

  1

  Sepal appearance

  the sepals resemble leaves in color and texture

  Sepal length

  2–3 mm

  Sepal number

  5

  Sepals fused only to sepals

  the sepals are fused to each other (not other flower parts), at least near their bases

  Spur length

  0 mm

  Stamen number

  • 4
  • 5

  Stamen position relative to petals

  the stamens are lined up with the sepals

  Stamens fused to petals

  the stamens are fused near the bases of the petals or tepals

  Style number

  1

• Fruits or seeds

  Fruit beak length

  0 mm

  Fruit length

  4–5 mm

  Fruit type (general)

  the fruit is dry and splits open when ripe

  Fruit type (specific)

  the fruit is a capsule (splits along two or more seams, apical teeth or pores when dry, to release two or more seeds)

• Glands or sap

  Oil glands on nodes

  none of the nodes have oil glands

  Sap

  the sap is clear and watery

• Growth form

  Lifespan

  the plant lives more than two years

  Root septa

  the roots do not have transverse septa

  Roots floating in water

  the plant has clusters of roots that float in the water

  Turions

  there are no turions on the plant

  Underground organs

  the plant has a rhizome (a horizontal underground stem with roots growing from it)

• Leaves

  Bract position (Sparganium)

  NA

  Bracts

  the flowers or their pedicels have bracts at their bases

  Floating leaf basal lobes

  yes

  Floating leaf blade width

  15–50 mm

  Floating leaf length

  30–70 mm

  Floating leaf shape

  • the leaf blade is cordate (heart-shaped with backward-facing rounded lobes)
  • the leaf blade is ovate (widest below the middle and broadly tapering at both ends)

  Floating leaf tip

  • the tip of the floating leaf blade is retuse (blunt or rounded, with a notch at the tip)
  • the tip of the floating leaf blade is rounded, with no point

  Leaf arrangement

  alternate: there is one leaf per node along the stem

  Leaf blade length

  30–70 mm

  Leaf blade veins

  the lateral veins radiate from the base and continue to spread away from the centerline of the leaf, or branch off the central vein at intervals

  Leaf blade width

  15–50 mm

  Leaf position

  some of the leaves are floating at the surface of the water

  Leaf special features

  none of the mentioned special features are present

  Leaf-like branch segments

  0

  Leaf-like branch shape

  NA

  Specific leaf type

  the leaf is not divided, rather the blade is made up of one segment

  Staminate bract edge (Myriophyllum)

  NA

  Stipule appearance

  NA

  Stipule fused to leaf

  NA

  Stipules

  there are no stipules on the plant

  Stipules fused around stem

  NA

  Trap-bladder length

  0 mm

  Underwater leaf air passage number

  At least 4335

  Underwater leaf air passage relative width

  At least 4336

  Underwater leaf air passage row number

  0

  Underwater leaf blade edges

  NA

  Underwater leaf blade shape

  NA

  Underwater leaf blade veins

  0

  Underwater leaf blade width

  0 mm

  Underwater leaf length

  0 mm

  Underwater leaf stalk

  NA

  Underwater leaf stalk length

  0 mm

  Underwater leaf tip shape

  NA

• Place

  Habitat

  aquatic

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Maine
  • Massachusetts
  • New Hampshire
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont

  Specific habitat

  • in lakes or ponds
  • in rivers or streams

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Flowering stem growth form

  the flowering stem is upright

Wetland status

Occurs only in wetlands. (Wetland indicator code: OBL)

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae