Jurassic Water Lettuce (Pistia Stratiotes)

Tropical, free-floating plant. Velvety ribbed leaves form delicate, pale green rosettes. Resembles a cabbage plant. This lettuce grows up to 12 in. in diameter (a large dinner plate size - much larger than regular lettuce). These produce plantlets that stretch out from the mother plant on slender stems. These can be separated and the older plants can be thinned out. If yellowing occurs the plants can be separated from the pond and fertilized.

Pistia stratiotes resembles a floating open head of lettuce. The leaves are spongy near the base, with dense soft pubescence on obvious parallel veins. Leaves are a soft greyish-green color and 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.

Cannot be shipped to AL, FL, LA, MS, SC, TX, and WI. Cannot be shipped to many parts of CA as it's regulated by county in CA. Please note that there is a very good chance of you receiving plants without flowers. With proper care, some heat, and a little luck, the Water Lettuce will flower. This plant ships with trimmed roots as sometimes they tend to fall off during transit due to heat. In case roots fall off upon receiving them, just place them in your pond and give them a couple of weeks so they can re-establish themselves. We've found the best success in shipping these when we send them earlier in the week to avoid lengthier shipping times caused by carriers weekend breaks. Orders placed Wed-Friday are likely to be shipped the following Monday.