Elatine heterandra

Mosquito waterwort

Family: Elatinaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Mosquito waterwort is a California native perennial found in the northern Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada in pond edge habitats at elevations of 1,000 to 1,500 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces small white flowers with three delicate petals emerging individually at each node. Growing with low-spreading decumbent stems just 2 to 5 centimeters long, it forms compact ground-hugging clusters. Its leaves are obovate to wide oblong-elliptic, with petioles approximately one-quarter the length of the blade. The fruit contains three distinct chambers, with seeds that curve slightly and feature 12 to 16 surface pits.

Habitat: Pond edges

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 1000-1500 m

Bioregions: NCoR, SN.

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