Philydrum lanuginosum

Common Name: frogsmouths, woolly waterlilies

Family: Philydraceae

Common Synonyms: Philydrum cavaleriei, Garciana cochinchinensis

USDA Hardiness Zone: 8a-13

Growth Habit: Rooted aquatic

Origin: Asia and Pacific Islands

FISC Category: -

FDACS Listed Noxious Weed: No

Introduction Date: First reported in the U.S. from North Carolina in 2016

IFAS Assessment:

• North: Not Assessed
• Central: Not Assessed
• South: Not Assessed

Description

Herbs tufted. Basal leaves 12--25, 30--80 cm including sheath 1--1.5 cm × 2--3.5 mm; leaf blade soft, veins 7--9, apex tapering. Cauline leaves usually 2 or 3. Flowering stem scapose, slender, terete, glabrescent proximally, villous toward inflorescence. Spikes simple, sometimes branched, woolly; bracts ovate, 2--7 × 0.7--1 cm, abaxially woolly, apex abruptly acuminate and subulate. Outer 2 perianth segments subovate, 8--10 mm, abaxially woolly, base with 2 strong veins, margin undulate, apex acute; inner 2 segments smaller than outer 2, spatulate, membranous, veins 3, base adnate to filament for 1--2 mm, apex acute. Stamen 6--9 mm, glabrous; filament flattened; anther subglobose. Ovary 6--7 mm, densely long woolly. Style 3--4 mm, glabrous; stigma dark reddish, capitate, 0.7--0.9 mm, long papillose.

Habitat

NA

Comments

Flowers June-July and fruits September-October. Self-fertile, produces thousands of dust like seeds dispersed by water, wind and animals.

Control Methods

• Manual: NA
• Chemical: NA
• Biological: NA

Control Notes

NA

References

USDA-APHIS. 2016. Weed risk assessment for Philydrum lanuginosum. USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, Raleigh, NC USA. https://www.cabi.org/isc/FullTextPDF/2015/20157200793.pdf

eFloras (2008). Published on the Internet http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200027398 [accessed 3 August 2022] Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.