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Asian marshweed (Limnophila sessiliflora)

Asian marshweed Synonyms: Ambulia sessiliflora, Hottonia sessiliflora, Stemodia sessiliflora, Terebinthina sessiliflora, Stemodiacra sessiliflora

Common Names: Ambulia

Description: Native to India, Ceylon and the Philippines. It is believed to have been introduced to the United States as an aquarium plant and was first noted in Lake Seminole (Florida/Georgia) in 1965.

Habit: Herbaceous aquatic perennial.

Leaves: Above water the leaves are dark green, more-or-less lance-shaped; in whorls of 5-8 leaves around the stem. Margins appear to be torn irregularly. Submersed leaves are finely divided and feathery, segments opposite.

Stems: Grows to 12 feet, with several inches erectly emersed.

Flowers: Small and solitary in leaf axils in the uppermost parts of the stems, above water. Five fused petals are 5-10 mm long, and are blue, violet, pink or lavender in color with an upper lip that is white or pink.

Fruit and seeds: Forms capsules, ellipsoid in shape containing up to 150 seeds.

Habitat: Native to Asia. Found in freshwater lakes, reservoirs, ponds, marshes, and slow-flowing streams and rivers.

Reproduction: By seed or vegetatively from stem fragments.

Similar species: Can be confused with other submerged aquatic plants such as other fanworts.

Monitoring and rapid response: Removal by hand or machine is recommended for small infestations. Plants can regrow from stem fragments. Aquatic herbicides can provide temporary control of small infestations. 2,4-D has been shown to be effecting.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the Global Invasive Species Database, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the University of Florida Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).


Common Name:

Asian marshweed

Scientific Name:

Limnophila sessiliflora

Family:

Scrophulariaceae
(Figwort)

Duration:

Annual, Perennial

Habit:

Aquatics

USDA Symbol:

LISE3