|
Normally found by shady riversides. Height c 45-90 cm. Flower diameter c 4-6 mm Similar to Common Figwort, but sepals have a white border c 0.5-1 mm in width. Other features: Leaves often have two lobes on the stalk below the main blade. Staminode (just beneath top petal) rounded. Stems square and strongly winged. Lower leaves usually more rounded at tip than Figwort.
Water figwort is a marginal plant with pointed, oval- toothed and evergreen leaves. The reddish-brown stems are sometimes downy in appearance and are square in cross-section. The whorls of small, two-lipped flowers are greenish with purple-brown upper lips. These are held in branched spikes. This is a plant of river banks, ditches and marshland and useful in a largish pond. Like other wetland plants, water figwort offers resting places for aquatic winged insects such as caddis flies and alder flies. This plant is specifically wasp pollinated and a weevil, Cionus sp, feeds on the foliage. It also provides nectar and pollen for bumble bees. . The fig part of the name has an unexpected origin, this being an old word for piles, which the plant was though to cure.
|
 Shibdon Pond 06-Aug-2009_800px.jpg)
Photo ©
Keith Robson