Rotala indica: A
small annual 10-15cm in height that inhabits paddies or wetlands.
Stems feel tender and often tinge light red-purple, with bases
crawling sideways and branching to take roots from nodes. Leaves are
opposite, 0.6-1cm long, 0.3-0.5cm wide, obovate-like oblong, with
tips round and margins transparent cartilaginous. Flowers singly set
themselves at axils, about 2mm across, and light red. Beneath the
blooms are two bractlets about the same length as sepals. The bracts
are tubular-like bell-shaped, and the tips are cleft in four. Petals
are small and put themselves between sepals. Bloom time:
August-October. |