Nymphoides cristata

Nymphoides cristata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Menyanthaceae
Genus:	Nymphoides
Species:	N. cristata
Binomial name
Nymphoides cristata (Roxb.) Kuntze

Nymphoides cristata (Crested floating heart, White water snowflake, White snowflake) is an aquatic plant of the family Menyanthaceae native to Asia. It has cordate floating leaves edged with variegated purple veins that support a dainty inflorescence of white flowers. Flowers of N. cristata are gynodioecious. The fruit is a capsule bearing many flattened seeds.

The plants are commonly sold for use in ornamental water gardens. Outside their native range, however, they can escape cultivation and become nuisance weeds, particularly in Florida. They are not killed by freezing, however, and have been reported in Lake Marion, South Carolina.^[1]

References

1. ^ Larry McCord (May 2007). ""New Nymphoides" in Lake Marion". Newsletter. South Carolina Aquatic Plant Management Society. http://www.scapms.org/images/newsletters/scapmsnewsmay2007news.pdf. Retrieved 4 March 2011.