Small waterwort, élatine naine Small waterwort, élatine naine

Crypta minima Nuttall, J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 1: 117, plate 6, fig. 1. 1817

Herbs, submersed or emersed on wet substrates, 0.2–3(–10) cm. Stems erect or ascending, usually unbranched, sometimes 1–2 branched. Leaves green; stipules lanceolate, 0.2 mm, margins entire, apex rounded; petiole 0–1 mm; blade elliptic to oblanceolate or spatulate, 0.3–5(–11) × 0.7–1.8(–4) mm, base rounded to truncate, apex obtuse-acute. Pedicels 0–0.2 mm, erect. Flowers cleistogamous when submersed; sepals 2, equal, ovate to oblong, 0.5 × 0.3 mm; petals 2, reddish, long-elliptic, elliptic, or ovate, 1–1.5 × 0.5 mm; stamens 2; styles 2. Capsules oblong-ovoid, 2-locular, 0.9–1.5 mm diam. Seeds 4–9 per locule, thickly cylindric to barrel-shaped, straight, 0.4–0.5(–0.7) × 0.2(–0.3) mm; pits elliptic, length 1.2–1.6 times width, in 8–9 rows, (11–)15–20 per row.

Flowering summer. Shores (sometimes intertidal) or in water to 2 m deep, sandy substrates mixed with organic debris, abandoned sunfish nests; 0–400 m; St. Pierre and Miquelon; N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Conn., Del., Ill., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Vt., Va., Wis.