中华水韭 zhong hua shui jiu

Plants helophytic, 15-30 cm tall. Rhizome slightly 2- or 3-lobed, bearing numerous forked roots. Microphylls 20-90 tufted, erect to spreading, imbricate adaxially, bright green, linear, 15-30 cm, 1-2 mm wide, succulent, herbaceous, apex acuminate, base broadly sheathlike, membranous, yellowish white, concave adaxially; peripheral fibrous bundles present; central intrastelar canals 3 or more. Ligules triangular, 2-3 mm, acuminate. Sporangia with white membranous velum cover. Megasporangia ca. 9 mm, ca. 3 mm in diam.; megaspores few, white, granular, tetrahedral, 330-475 μm in diam., proximal hemisphere spinulose to spinulose-cristate, distal hemisphere cristate. Microspores numerous, gray, powdery, dihedral, 25-30 μm, spinulose. Spores mature late May to end of Oct. 2n = 44*.

● Shallow water, beside ponds, sludge in gullies, intertidal zones along rivers and in streams; 100-300 m. Anhui (Dangtu, Tunxi, Xiuning), Guangxi (Guilin), Jiangsu (Nanjing), Zhejiang (Hangzhou, Jiande, Lishui, Zhuji).

Molecular, cytological, and morphological evidence shows that Iseotes sinensis may be allotetraploid, originating via hybridization between I. yunguiensis and I. taiwanensis.