907

Rotala indica (Willd.) Koehne

Synonym	:	Ameletia acutidens Miq.
Family	:	Lythraceae
Flowering and fruiting period	:	July-December
Distribution	:	Tropical Asia; naturalised in Europe, Africa and America
Distribution in kerala	:	All Districts
Habitat	:	Waterlogged areas and rock crevices
Uses	:	This aquatic plant is best known as a popular aquarium plant and as a weed of rice fields.
Key Botanical Characters : Annual herb.Stem erect or decumbent to 30 cm long, 4-angled or terete, rooting at the nodes. Leaves decussate, sessile or subsessile, 0.5-1.6 x 0.4-1 cm, obovate-spathulate or suborbicular, base cuneate or obtuse, margins cartilaginous, apex acute, obtuse or emarginate. Bracts dimorphic, leaf like on major branches, much smaller elliptic-oblong on flowering branches which ultimately look like bracteate spikes. Bracteoles 2, 1.5-2 mm long, linear to lanceolate. Flowers sessile, axillary, solitary. Calyx tube pink or red, turning brown, 1.3-2.6 mm long, campanulate; lobes 4, triangular, appendages absent. Petals 4, pink, c. 0.5 mm long, elliptic. Stamens 4 or sometimes fewer, filaments inserted at about the middle of calyx tube. Ovary c. 1 mm long, ellipsoidal; style to 1 mm long; stigma capitate. Capsule ellipsoid, 2-valved.