Texas water-fire Texas water-fire

Merimea texana Hooker, Icon. Pl. 3: plate 278. 1840; Elatine texana (Hooker) Torrey & A. Gray

Herbs, (5–)10–30(–40) cm, often branched from base. Leaves: stipules 2-fid, 1–3 mm, lobes lanceolate, margins laciniate-denticulate; petiole 1–3 mm; blade oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 1–3 cm × 3–10 mm, base attenuate, apex acute or acuminate, surfaces glandular-puberulent or adaxial glabrous. Inflorescences (1–)3–5-flowered. Pedicels ± erect, (0.5–)3–8 mm, slender, glandular. Flowers: sepals greenish white, narrowly elliptic or lanceolate, 2–3.5 mm; petals white (sometimes reddish distally), obovate or elliptic, 2.5 mm. Capsules ovoid to nearly globose, 2–2.5(–3) mm wide. Seeds oblong, 0.4–0.6 mm; pits in 8–9 rows, 15 per row.

Flowering summer(–early fall). Muddy or sandy shores and flats, emergent shorelines of rivers, lakes, playas, pools, ditches, ponds; 0–1600 m; Ark., Calif., Colo., Idaho, Ill., Kans., La., Mo., Mont., Nebr., Nev., N.Mex., Okla., Oreg., S.Dak., Tex., Utah, Wash.; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Nuevo León, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas).