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DESCRIPTION:
Waterhyssops are annual, aquatic weeds that are common in rice fields, shallow ditches, ponds, and
reservoirs. Seedlings have seed leaves 1.5 to 2 times longer than broad. The oval or round first
leaves are produced on stems and lack leafstalks. Mature plants have branched, fleshy, hollow stems
that are slightly constricted at the nodes where they may grow roots. Circular or wedge shaped leaves
grow opposite one another on the stem. Leaf veins radiate from a common point. The plant produces one
or two 5-petaled, white and yellow flowers at the base of leaves or on narrow stalks. Mature fruit,
which contain two to four seed capsules, are submerged.
Eisen waterhyssop (B. eisenii), a native Californian plant, is found south of the Sacramento Valley.
Disk waterhyssop (B. rotundifolia, shown in these images) grows in the Sacramento Valley and north. Seeds
of both species germinate with rice field flooding in the spring.
Broadleaf ID illustration.
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