Species in the genus Rotala:

Rotala indica / Kikashigusa キカシグサ

Rotala indica: A small annual 10-15cm height inhabiting 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.