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Pistia stratioites L.; xiikin chaak, lechuguilla, water lettuce

Floating aquatic herb; leaves forming a rosette, alternate, simple, wedge-shaped, margin entire, apex notched, veins parallel; flowers minute, enclosed by a small white spathe in the axils of relatively young leaves.

Additional images:

• habitat, on surface of haltun
• habit, on surface of haltun
• habitat, on surface of haltun
• flowers
• flowers
• flowers

Morton (1981) reports numerous medicinal uses throughout Mesoamerica and the Caribbean: decoctions of the plant to treat indisgestion and used as a demulcent; leaf poultices applied to hemorrhoids; leaves mixed with rice and coconut milk to treat dysentery; leaf extracts mixed with rose water and sugar for cough and asthma; roots as laxative and as emollient.