| Author | (Elliott) Fernald | |
| Distribution | Strictly in the Sandhills region, in the souhwestern Coastal Plain.
A widely ranging species of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains. It ranges from eastern Canada south to western FL, and west to LA, but seemingly skipping over VA. | |
| Abundance | Uncommon on the landscape, but can be locally abundant at Sandhills Game Land lakes and ponds in Richmond and Scotland counties; scarce in Moore, Hoke and Cumberland counties. This is a Watch List species. | |
| Habitat | This is a species of acidic waters of beaver ponds, and man-made lakes and ponds. It seldom is seen in sluggish streams. |
| Phenology | Blooms from April to August, and fruits soon after flowering. | |
| Identification | This aquatic, floating species is a smaller version of N. aquatica, which grows mostly to the east of this species in the Coastal Plain. The floating leaves are only 2 inches across, rounded with a cordate base, and strongly mottled purple-brown with green. N. aquatica has leaves twice as large and they are solid green above. Each species has several 5-petaled white flowers poking a few inches above the water surface, but in this species the spread flower is only about 1/2-inch across. This is quite an attractive species, especially with the strongly mottled leaves, not to mention the white flowers. Thankfully, you should be able to find it fairly readily by stopping at a few of the lakes and ponds on the Sandhills Game Land. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
| |
| Other Common Name(s) | None | |
| State Rank | S2 | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | W7 | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | OBL link |
| USACE-emp | OBL link |
