Common names: None

Family: Poaceae

Could be confused with: Unlikely to be confused with any other aquatic plant.

Native distribution: India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, China.

Species cultivated:
Hygroryza aristata (Retz.) Nees (southeast Asia)

Adventive distribution: Thailand, Indonesia, Bangladesh.

Weed status: Significant weed species in rice in southeast Asia.

Habit: Floating, branching grass with inflated leaf sheaths.

Brief description: Perennial grass. Stoloniferous, culms creeping or ascending, floating, with roots produced at internodes. Leaves floating or emergent; leaf blade entire, ovate to ovate-oblong, olive green, venation parallel with distinct pale midvein; leaf sheath inflated with aerenchyma. Inflorescence a panicle; spikelets single flowered. Floret with long awn. Dispersal by stem fragments and seeds.

Natural habitat: Still waters of lakes, ponds, canals and flooded rice fields.

Additional comments: Hygroryza aristata, the sole species in the genus, is one of the few grasses that is regularly cultivated for aquaria or ponds. Hygroryza has inflated leaf sheaths to aid in flotation and can form dense, floating mats.