Murdannia keisak (Hassk.) Hand.-Mazz.

Marsh Dewflower; Wart Removing Herb

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Wart Removing Herb is an introduced herbaceous annual in the Spiderwort family (Commelinaceae). It is native to eastern Asia. Wart Removing Herb was first reported from the United States in 1935 growing in rice paddies in South Carolina. It seems to have reached Alabama in the 1990’s. Wart Removing Herb grows in wetlands, along ponds and lakes, on the banks of streams and rivers, and in wet roadside ditched. It is a trailing annual, with succulent stems that root at the nodes. The stems are green in color. Leaves are alternate and sessile. The leaf sheath surrounds the stem below the blade and is pubescent along its margins. The leaf blades are linear to lanceolate in outline, glabrous, with entire margins. Flowers are produced in terminal or axillary 1-3 flowered cymes. Each flower has 3 green sepals that are reflexed in flower. The flower has 3 purple to pinkish petals, and 3 stamens with bearded filaments. The fruit is a capsule. Wart Removing Herb is listed as a category 2 invasive species by the Alabama Invasive Plant Council. It is sometimes used as an aquarium or pool plant and the seed are eaten by ducks, which may contribute to its spread. Juice from cut stems is used as a cure for warts in Asia.--A. Diamond

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Not Native OBL (NWPL)

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