Scientific name: Apium nodiflorum (L.) Lag.
Common name: Fool's Water-cress
Description
Habit: A prostrate or semi-erect perennial, hairless, to 80 cm long.
Stems: Hollow, sometimes rooting at the nodes.
Leaves: Leaves 1-pinnate; leaflets oval, slightly lobed, undivided.
Flowers: White, in shortly stalked umbels borne opposite the leaves, with 5-8 rays; bracts usually absent, bracteoles numerous; petals 5, free; stamens 5; ovary inferior and 2-celled.
Fruits: A schizocarp, 2-2.5 mm, ovoid.
Habitat: Lake-shores, ditches, streams and marshes.
Distribution: Widespread and locally frequent; commonest on the limestone, elsewhere mainly near the sea.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No