Echinodorus berteroi

Burhead

Family: Alismataceae · Type: perennial · Native

Burhead is a California native perennial found in the northern Coast Ranges, Central Valley, central western California, and southwestern California in ponds and ditches at elevations below 300 meters. Flowering from mid-summer to fall, this plant produces white flowers with petals 6 to 9 millimeters long, typically 1 to 3 flowers per node. Growing with stems that emerge from the water, it develops both submersed linear leaves and floating emergent leaves 8 to 30 centimeters long, with floating blades 6 to 14 centimeters long and 3 to 15 centimeters wide. Its leaves have distinctive coarse veining, with floating blades ranging from elliptic to heart-shaped. The plant produces a bur-like fruit cluster with a body 1.5 to 3 millimeters long, typically featuring five distinct ribs.

Habitat: Ponds, ditches

Bloom period: Mid summer-fall

Elevation: < 300 m

Bioregions: NCoRI, GV, CW, SW

California counties: Orange, San Diego, Kern, Santa Clara, Los Angeles, Ventura, Riverside, Stanislaus, Monterey, Butte, Santa Barbara, Glenn, Yolo, Lake, Imperial, Napa, Colusa, Tulare, Sacramento, San Luis Obispo, Sonoma, Marin, Fresno, Nevada, Tehama, Mendocino, Merced, Alameda, San Joaquin, Sutter, San Mateo, Kings

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.