water lettuce

References

water lettuce

plant

Also known as: Nile cabbage, Pistia stratiotes, water cabbage(Show More)

Written by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

July 15, 2026

Quick Summary

Water lettuce, also known as water cabbage, is a common tropical floating plant. It forms a rosette of spongy, wedge-shaped leaves.12

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

2 Britannica Sources

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.

Africa
Sudd
…other water plants—including the floating Nile cabbage (Pistia stratiotes)—form masses of waterlogged plant material that are largely unproductive and are a nuisance to fishing and navigation. Pistia has become an unwelcome invader of Lake Kariba, the body of water formed by the impounding (1959) of the Zambezi River in the…
Read More
…other water plants—including the floating Nile cabbage (Pistia stratiotes)—form masses of waterlogged plant material that are largely unproductive and are a nuisance to fishing and navigation. Pistia has become an unwelcome invader of Lake Kariba, the body of water formed by the impounding (1959) of the Zambezi River in the…
Read More