| Scientific name | Pistia stratiotes |
| Common name | Water lettuce |
| Temperature requirement | 25-35 °C |
| Humidity | 40-50% |
| Light |
Prefers slightly shady conditions and doesn’t do well in very bright light that may scorch the leaves.
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| Pests | Water hyacinth weevils and moths |
| Pet friendliness | Toxic to pets safe for human |
| Maximum plant height | 5 – 25 cm |
| Pot | Clay and loamy soil with water |
| Pot requirement | Repot every 1-2 years |
| Nutrition |
Feed once a month with a balanced (such as NPK) liquid or water-soluble fertilizer.
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| Pruning & training | Remove dead & diseased leaves with sterile shears |
| Fower colour & season | N/A |
| Description |
Water lettuce is a floating pond plant with fuzzy rosettes of leaves resembling heads of lettuce. Each leaf has deep ribs and parallel veins, scalloped edges, and no significant stems. Though not showy, the water lettuce plant does produce small white or pale green flowers hidden in the foliage.Pistia stratiotes is a moncotyledon plant that resembles a floating open head of lettuce (ramey 2001). The leaves are spongy near the base, with dense soft pubescence on obvious parallel veins (langeland and burks 1999). Its leaves are gray-green, about 15 cm long, widest at the apex, and arranged in rosettes. Rosettes occur singly or connected to others by short stolons. Leaves have prominent parallel veins and dense white hairs covering the leaf surface. Roots are numerous, feathery and dense, hanging unbranched 50-80 cm below the water; each root is covered with fine root hairs which give them a feather-like appearance. Flowers are inconspicuous, clustered on small, fleshy stalks that are nearly hidden in the leaf axils. There is a whorl of male flowers above a single female flower. The fruit arises from the female flower as a green berry with many seeds.
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Additional information
| Port Size | V15 |
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