Ottelia alismoides (L.) Pers.
Hydrocharitaceae
duck lettuce
seed
Fruit with numerous seeds. Seeds fusiform, 1–2 mm long, 0.3–0.7 mm in diameter, with 2 faint slightly curved longitudinal ridges. Testa light brown, dull to semiglossy, faintly wrinkled, with a tuft of unicellular white hairs. Hilum inconspicuous. Embryo linear-spatulate; endosperm absent.
widespread in South and Southeast Asia from India to the Philippines, including China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan; south to Australia and the Solomon Islands; Africa (Egypt and Sudan); Italy; western hemisphere: Belize, Canada, United States
slow moving or stagnant water, in small ponds and ditches, swamps, rice fields
Ottelia alismoides, an annual submersed freshwater aquatic herb, up to 85 cm tall, is a weed of rice fields in Southeast Asia. Reproduction is by whole plants or seeds. The petioles and leaves of this plant are eaten as a vegetable in India and Malaysia.