睡菜属 shui cai shu

Perennials, aquatic or nearly so. Rhizomes long, prostrate, nodes with rootlets and scalelike leaves. Leaves basal except for those at rhizome nodes, emergent from water; petiole base sheathing stem; leaf blade 3foliolate. Inflorescences scapose, many-flowered racemes produced from stem nodes. Flowers 5merous, distylous. Calyx lobed almost to base. Corolla lobed to just below middle. Stamens inserted at middle of corolla tube. Style linear. Capsules 2valved. Seeds smooth.

One species: N temperate regions including China.

Lower Taxon

• Menyanthes trifoliata Linnaeus