704

Nymphoides macrospermum Vasud.Nair

Family	:	Menyanthaceae
Flowering and fruiting period	:	September-December
Distribution		Southern Western Ghats (Kerala)
Distribution in Kerala	:	Alappuzha, Kozhikode, Ernakulam
Habitat	:	Paddy fields and ponds
Uses	:	It is used in Ayurvedic medicine as a popular drug, i.e. Tagara. They are also utilized by the traditional local healers of different Asian countries to treat various diseases, like convulsion, jaundice, fever, headache,
IUCN status	:	Critically endangered
Key botanical characters: Annual or perennial, dioecious, rhizomatous herbs. Branches dimorphic, all fertile; primary branches petiole-like, the length of which vary according to water depth, uniphyllous; tuberous roots at the nodes. Leaves. Base deeply cordate, apex rounded, membranous, and gland-dotted below; Flowers unisexual, in umbellate clusters at the nodes. Male flowers: calyx deeply 5-partite; lobes blong-obtuse, pinkish. Corolla white, tube short; oblong or elliptic, hairy at base and with fimbriately toothed wings on the margins and with a similar median longitudinal crest within. Stamens 5; filaments 2 mm long; anthers yellow. Pistillode bottle-shaped. Female flowers: calyx and corolla as in male. Staminodes 5, similar to fertile stamens. Ovary bottle-shaped; stigma yellowish, bifid, each lobe fimbriate. Capsule to 8 mm long, ovoid. Seeds 2-6 in each capsule, ovoid or ellipsoid.