Yellow Velvetleaf

Description

Limnocharis flava (English: yellow sawah lettuce, yellow burr head or yellow velvetleaf, Indonesian: genjer, Javanese: g-nj-r, Lao phak khan chong, Tagalog: cebolla de chucho, Thai: -----------, khmer: ----------, Vietnamese: k-o n-o or c- n-o) is a species of aquatic flowering plant which is native to Mexico, Central America, South America, Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic but widely naturalized in southern and southeastern Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Assam, Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and southern China (Guangdong, Yunnan)). Limnocharis flava is roughly 50 cm tall. growing in clumps. Its triangular-shaped leaves and hollow stems are glabrous. Its inflorescences have a very characteristic shape, producing three-lobed yellow flowers about 1.5 cm in diameter. The fruits are spherical. Although it is not a floating plant, its seeds are carried away by currents. Yellow velvetleaf grows generally wherever there is not very deep stagnant fresh water, in swampy areas. It sometimes invades rice fields where it can become a weed. As an invasive species it has become a pest in some wetlands in other parts of the world.