Alligator-leaf Nymphoides - Nymphoides crenata

The name Nymphoides means "lily-like", and while the leaves are similar, the flowers are very different. The brilliant yellow, star shaped flowers have 5 narrow, fringed petals, each about an inch and a half long and a quarter of an inch wide. ZONE 8

Each plant produces several flowers in a day in the peak fo the season. The leaves are leathery, round with a deep sinus, and are interestingly variegated with dark purplish blotches in a pattern that would remind one of an alligator handbag. The leaf margin is scalloped, especially in the older leaves. Variegation increases with brighter light. Naturalizes well, owing to its habit of producing runners with new plants at approximately 18 inch intervals. The flowers form in clusters at the ends of special stems.