Water lettuce
ಕುಂಬಿಕ್பிஸ்டியாపిస్టియా
Pistia stratiotes L.
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Plenty
- tall
- 11 cm
- wide
- 30 cm
Araceae
Also called Water Lettuce, Shellflower, Nile cabbage, Water cabbage, Nile Lettuce
Formerly Apiospermum obcordatum, Limnonesis commutata, Limnonesis friedrichsthaliana, Pistia aegyptiaca, and 21 more
When it flowers
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- HelophyteKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- Wet tropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Tropics & SubtropicsKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from NC State Extension, one source
- Height
- 8 cm to 15 cmRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Spread
- 15 cm to 46 cmRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Water
- Plenty: wet or constantly moistRead from NC State Extension and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Flowers
- White, yellow, greenRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Coldest it survives
- -12.2 °C (USDA zone 8a)Read from NC State Extension, one source
- Hottest it survives
- 35 °CRead from Wikipedia, one source
Not known yet: heat.
In other languages (12)
- myn
- iban-há
- Spanish
- lechuguilla de agua, Repollito de agua, Lechuga de Agua
- Chinese
- 大薸, 大萍
- German
- Muschelblume, Wassersalat, Grüne Wasserrose
- Italian
- Lattuga acquatica
- French
- Laitue d'eau
- Portuguese
- Alface-d’água
- Czech
- babelka řezanovitá
- Chinese (China)
- 大薸, 大漂, 水白菜
- Finnish
- pistia
- Russian
- Пистия слоистая, Пистия телорезовидная
- Indonesian
- Apu-Apu
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-26, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikipedia, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, CC BY-SA 3.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Pistia stratiotes (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.