Villarsia

(Marsh Flower)

There are several species of the delightful water plant Villarsia in Australia. Most are found naturally in shallow, ephemeral waters and the fringes of swamps.

Unlike many water plants that tend to float, the plants and flower stalks are upright, although leaves of some species of Villarsia will float when growing in deeper water.

Villarsia species have dainty, five-petalled, frilled flowers. Most are a distinctive yellow but some are also white, and their flowering times vary, although most flower in warmer weather. The leaves can vary quite considerably from spear shaped to kidney shaped.

In a garden pond, Villarsia are tremendous plants, except they can get a bit dominant, so a bit of culling from time to time may be necessary to allow other water plants to grow.

Villarsia exaltata

This species (flower pictured at top) is found in Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania. It is now an endangered species in Tasmania. It has tall, quite spearhead-shaped leaves and yellow flowers. V. exaltata is more suited to large ponds and dams as it needs a bit of room to spread and develops tall flower spikes (as shown here) which could look out of scale in a small pond. It will grow in wet soils and water to a depth of 1 metre.

Villarsia reniformis

This species is a running plant and has fairly thick, succulent-like leaves (see pic below) that are kidney shaped with dark pitting (pores) on the underside, and yellow flowers (pictured right). It is found naturally in Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania and South Australia. V. reniformis is ideal for shallow water bodies such as garden ponds or damp soil beside a pond.

Villarsia umbricola

V. umbricola is similar in appearance to V. reniformis but is only found naturally in south-western South Australia and south-western Victoria. The leaves look similar but are quite papery and are smooth, without the pitting on the underside. It's a smaller plant, too, forming neat mounds of foliage.

Villarsia albiflora

This species is also similar to V. reniformis but it has white or cream flowers. It is only found naturally in the south-western corner of Western Australia, although it is not a threatened species. It grows in or beside freshwater lakes, swamps and watercourses, in sandy-peaty soils.

Other species

There are several other Western Australian species of Villarsia but are all fairly small and inconspicuous compared to those listed above. Villarsia calthifolia (Mountain Villarsia) is the subject of a national recovery plan. It was declared as Rare Flora in 1980 and only nine populations and 582 mature plants are known to exist. (The main threats are weeds, grazing, drought, and inappropriate fire regimes.)

Propagation

Villarsia are easily divided. In fact you will find you will need to do this regularly anyway, just to remove some growth! They can also be grown from seed.

Information sources:

Australian Plants Society Maroondah Inc, Flora of Melbourne, 2001, published by Hyland House
Romanowski, N., 1998, Aquatic and Wetland Plants - A Field Guide for Non-Tropical Australia, published by University of NSW Press.
Conservation & Land Management, Western Australia
Parks Tasmania
Photographs of Villarsia exaltata and Villarsia reniformis are courtesy of the Australian National Botanic Garden. Photographer M. Fagg.

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