Latin name

Nymphoides indica (L.) Kuntze

Family

Menyanthaceae (Gentianaceae)

Common name(s)

Water snow flake

Synonym(s)

Nymphoides humboldtiana (Kunth) Kuntze, Villarsia humboldtiana Kunth, Menyanthes indica L., Limnanthemum indicum (L.) Griseb., L. humboldtianum (Kunth) Griseb.

Geographical distribution

South and Southeast Asia: Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Rest of the world: Australia, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ghana, Madagascar, Nicaragua, and Zambia.

Morphology

A perennial aquatic plant with floating and submerged leaves.

Stem: 30—150—cm—long, rooting at nodes and arising from a short rhizome.

Leaf: lower submerged leaves in circular cluster either with a small blade or without blade at all; upper floating leaves thick, solitary, ovate-orbicular, 6—30—cm—long; petioles 1.5—4—cm—long.

Inflorescence: flowers cluster at basal nodes; calyx lobed, corolla comprises 8 petals, white and fringed with white hairs; flower center yellow.

Fruit: oblong capsule, 4—5—mm in diameter.

Seed: lens-shaped, broadly oblong, smooth or finely warted, about 0.8—mm—long.

Biology and ecology

Commonly found in stagnant water in canals, ditches, swampy areas, ponds, and rice fields.

Agricultural importance

Unclear whether the weed causes economic yield losses in rice.

Management

Cultural control: rotavation or hand weeding during early growth stages can control this weed.

Chemical control: butachlor, bensulfuron methyl, and bentazon in rice.

Selected references

Anonymous. 1991. Life cycles of rice field weeds and their management in Malaysia. Cheong Seng Chan Sdn. Bhd. 89 p.

Moody K. 1989. Weeds reported in rice in South and Southeast Asia. Manila (Philippines): International Rice Research Institute. 442 p.

Noda K, Teerawatsakul M, Prakongvongs C, Chaiwiratnukul L. 1985. Major weeds in Thailand. Bangkok National Weed Science Research Institute Project. 142 p.

Lui T, Kuo C. Gentianaceae. 1978. Flora Taiwan. 4:161-201.

Pancho JV, Soerjani M. 1978. Aquatic weeds of Southeast Asia: a systematic account of common Southeast Asian aquatic weeds. Bogor (Indonesia): SEAMEO Regional Center for Tropical Biology. 130 p.

Soerjani M, Kostermans AJGH, Tjitrosoepomo G. 1987. Weeds of rice in Indonesia. Jakarta (Indonesia): Balai Pustaka. 716 p.

Contributors

JLA Catindig, RT Lubigan, and DE Johnson