BOTANY WITH BASICS OF HYDROBOTANY (AQUATIC PLANTS OF UKRAINE) - B.Ye. Yakubenko - 2011

X. SEED PLANTS

Family Pontederiaceae

The family comprises 7 genera and about 30 species, distributed mainly in the tropics and subtropics of Asia, Africa, America, and Australia. It is adventive in Europe. Ukraine has only a single species — Korsakow's monochoria, native to the Far East.

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Fig. 185. Korsakow's monochoria

Korsakow's monochoria (Monochoria korsakowii Regel et Maack). A perennial plant with an erect or ascending stem, 20-60 cm tall; basal leaves long-petiolate with petioles up to 40 cm long, cordate, fleshy, with inflated sheaths (Fig. 185). Stem leaves on petioles up to 12 cm long. Inflorescence is a raceme; flowers are nearly regular, perianth six-parted, corolla-like, bright blue with a yellow stripe down the middle. Stamens 6, of which one is slightly longer than the others. Ovary is trilocular; blooms in July-September. The fruit is a many-seeded trigonous-rounded capsule.

It grows in rice paddies, stagnant water bodies, and on muddy riverbanks exclusively in Crimea and Kherson Oblast.

An ornamental plant and a weed of rice fields. Mass proliferation reduces rice yields by 20-50%. Suitable for decorating artificial ponds, pools, and shoreline areas. There are reports of its medicinal properties.



Last update: 07/08/2026

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