Heteranthera
(from heteros, variable, and anther; the anthers are variable). ORD. Pontederaceae. A genus containing about eight species of ornamental aquatic perennial herbs, one of which is tropical African, and all the rest American. Flowers blue or white, small, produced from a spathe in the axil of a sheathing leafstalk; perianth salver-shaped, with a long, slender tube, and a spreading, six-lobed limb. Leaves roundish, long-stalked or linear. H. limosa may be grown by the sides of a pond or rivulet. The remainder require the same treatment as other tender aquatics.
H. limosa (bog).* fl., perianth tube slender; limb bright violet-blue; segments linear-oblong, obtuse; peduncles one-flowered. From May onwards. l. erect, from orbicular-ovate to almost lanceolate, obtuse, pale bright green on both surfaces, striated with numerous veins; petiole 6in. to 10in. long, stout, fistular. America (in bogs and marshes), widely distributed.