Flora of East-Central Indiana

Virginia Waterleaf
Scientific Name Hydrophyllum virginianum  L.
Family Name Hydrophyllaceae (Waterleaf Family)

 

Characteristics
Habitat: moist, wet woods or open wet places
Plant Height: 30-80 cm tall, erect stem; well developed rhizome
Flower Color: white to lilac
Flower: complete; perfect; deeply 5-lobed petals; 5 long sepals, tapering to point with long hairs; 5 stamens adnate at base of corolla tube with hairy filaments extending beyond petals; stamens and style long
Inflorescence: compact cymes lacking well developed main axis; dense at anthesis
Fruit: 2-valved capsule
Leaves: alternate; petiolate; pinnately compound; glabrous or nearly so
Bloom Time: April-June
Origins: native
Other: see other Hydrophyllum  especially H. macrophyllum ; Native Americans used a root tea as an astringent for diarrhea and dysentery; the raw roots were chewed to treat mouth sores
hydrophyllum_virginianum_habit.jpg (31167 bytes)

hydrophyllum_comparison.jpg (18318 bytes)

 hydrophyllum_virginianum_flhead2.jpg (19286 bytes)
general habit form leaf comparison close up of flowers

Native Wildflowers ● Trees, Shrubs&Vines ● Ferns ● Grasses&Allies ● Non-Native Species ●  ECI Flora Home

information provided by

FSEEC
Field Station and
Environmental Education Center
Ball State University, Muncie, IN



comments to:
hbrown@bsu.edu