Nymphoides peltata
Nymphoides peltata (S.G. Gmel.) Kuntze
Menyanthaceae – Buckbean family
Conservation status. Endangered [EN B1ab(ii,iii,iv)+2ab(ii,iii,iv)]. BDA.
Morphology and biology. Perennial aquatic herb with creeping, up to 1.5 m long rhizome. Stems thin, reaching and lying just beneath the water surface. Leaves in the nodes or on the top of the stem, floating, reniform to cordate-ovate, entire, fleshy, 2–7 cm in diameter. Flowers star-shaped, on long stalks, 2–6 in axillary umbel-like fascicles. Petals bright yellow, 15–20 mm, densely shortly fimbriate-ciliate at margins. Fruit an ovate capsule. Fl. VI–IX, fr. VII–X. Pollination by insects. Reproduction by seeds and vegetatively by stolons and broken stems.
Habitats and populations. In wetlands: marshes, lakes, swamps, fish-ponds, and drainage channels. Prefers more shallow and slightly drying up water bodies, but grows also on damp mud in their peripheries. At some places the populations comprise very numerous and densely packed individuals, forming communities. They are unstable and depend upon the water level during the years.
Distribution in Bulgaria. NE Bulgaria, Danubian Plain, Thracian Lowland (fish-ponds in Plovdiv town); up to 100 m alt. Some of the localities have been destroyed after the drainage of the former marshes. In the second half of the 80’s the species was planted in an artificial water body near Negovan village (Sofia district, Sofia floristic region) where it grows up to now.
General distribution. Europe (except the far northern regions), Asia, introduced in North America and New Zealand.
Threats. Changes in the water regime of the Danube; drying up of water bodies; cleaning or abandonment of fish-ponds.
Conservation measures taken. Protected species according to the national Biodiversity Act. Some localities are in Persina Nature Park, Srebarna Managed Nature Reserve, Kalimok-Brushlen and Blatoto Kraj Malak Preslanets Protected Sites, etc. Some of the species localities are in sites of the European ecological network Natura 2000 in Bulgaria.
Conservation measures needed. Research on population number and range, species biology and ecology, threats. Population monitoring. Conservation and restoration of wetlands along the Danube. Preserving of seed material in the National Seed Genebank of Bulgaria.
References. Kochev & Jordanov 1981; Kozhuharov & Petrova 1982; Stanev 1983a; Simeonovski 1984; Kochev & Dobrev 1989.
Authors: Daniella Ivanova & Rossen Tzonev
