Sclerolepis is an aquatic plant

Aquatic plant

Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments. They are also referred to as hydrophytes or aquatic macrophytes. These plants require special adaptations for living submerged in water, or at the water's surface. Aquatic plants can only grow in water or in soil that is...

 native to the eastern United States. It lives in ponds and other wet areas. When water is abundant, the plant lives underwater, with long stems and flaccid, elongated leaves, and does not flower. When the water level drops, it assumes a form more familiar in terrestrial plants, with an erect stem, and flowers in summer to fall. The flowers are pink.

Sclerolepis is fairly common in the south, from Alabama to North Carolina, and has more sparse distribution as far north as New Hampshire.

Classification

Sclerolepis is in the tribe Eupatorieae

Eupatorieae

Eupatorieae is a tribe of over 2000 species of plants in the aster family. Most of the species are native to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate areas of the Americas, but some are found elsewhere...

 of the aster family. The only species in the genus is Sclerolepis uniflora. It is thought to be related to two other aquatic genera in this tribe, Shinnersia

Shinnersia

Shinnersia is an aquatic plant native to Texas and Mexico. The roots live in the muck at the bottom of shallow slow-moving water , and the stem extends above the water slightly ....

and Trichocoronis

Trichocoronis

Trichocoronis is a genus of two species of aquatic plant native to Texas and Mexico. They are annuals or perennials.- Classification :The genus contains the following species:*T...

.

External links

• Sclerolepis uniflora by Debra Dunlop, from the New England Plant Conservation Program Conservation and Research Plan