SPECIES DESCRIPTION
ALISMA PLANTAGO-AQUATICA
Family and Genus:- See- ALISMATACEAE
Common name:- Water plantain
Homotypic Synonyms:- Alisma major, Alisma plantago-aquatica subsp. latifolium, Damasonium plantago-aquaticum.
Meaning:- Alisma (Gr) Used by the Greek physician Dioscorides for a plantain-leaved water plant.
Plantago-aquatica (L) Water plantain.
General description:- A perennial herb growing in water or mud up to 100 cm tall.
Leaves:-
1) Up to 30 x 12 cm but usually smaller, usually aerial. ovate or elliptic-ovate to
lanceolate, mostly subcordate or truncate at the base, but sometimes cuneate,
more or less rounded but ultimately acuminate at the apex
Flowers:-
1) Petals, 3·5-6·5 mm. white or purplish-white.
2) Anthers, elliptical.
3) Styles, equalling or longer than the ovaries, filiform, more or less erect.
stigmatose in the upper 1/8-1/5 of their length.
Fruit:-
1) Fruitlets, 2-3 mm, lateral pericarp thickish, opaque.
Key feature:-
1) Anthers, elliptical.
2) At least some leaves aerial or floating.
3) Petiolate, ± acuminate.
4) Leaves, ovate or elliptic-ovate to lanceolate, usually subcordate or truncate at the
base but sometimes cuneate.
5) Fruitlets, with thickish opaque lateral pericarp.
Habitat:- Lake margins, ditches and freshwater swamps. 0-800(-1100) m.
Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece. - Widespread in temperate regions of the N hemisphere. A native to Eurasia and North Africa, it is widespread around the Mediterranean. On Crete it is rare with limited distribution found only in marshy areas.
Flowering time:- May-July.
Photos by:- By kind permission of Saxifraga - Free Nature Images
Comments:-
All European species of this family grow in marshes or in shallow water at the edges of lakes, ponds, canals or slow rivers. Most of them, when growing in water, can produce linear, phyllodal submerged leaves which may or may not persist. When growing in relatively dry habitats the plants are usually dwarfed and may be misleadingly different from plants growing in wetter conditions.
Family and Genus:- See- ALISMATACEAE
Common name:- Water plantain
Homotypic Synonyms:- Alisma major, Alisma plantago-aquatica subsp. latifolium, Damasonium plantago-aquaticum.
Meaning:- Alisma (Gr) Used by the Greek physician Dioscorides for a plantain-leaved water plant.
Plantago-aquatica (L) Water plantain.
General description:- A perennial herb growing in water or mud up to 100 cm tall.
Leaves:-
1) Up to 30 x 12 cm but usually smaller, usually aerial. ovate or elliptic-ovate to
lanceolate, mostly subcordate or truncate at the base, but sometimes cuneate,
more or less rounded but ultimately acuminate at the apex
Flowers:-
1) Petals, 3·5-6·5 mm. white or purplish-white.
2) Anthers, elliptical.
3) Styles, equalling or longer than the ovaries, filiform, more or less erect.
stigmatose in the upper 1/8-1/5 of their length.
Fruit:-
1) Fruitlets, 2-3 mm, lateral pericarp thickish, opaque.
Key feature:-
1) Anthers, elliptical.
2) At least some leaves aerial or floating.
3) Petiolate, ± acuminate.
4) Leaves, ovate or elliptic-ovate to lanceolate, usually subcordate or truncate at the
base but sometimes cuneate.
5) Fruitlets, with thickish opaque lateral pericarp.
Habitat:- Lake margins, ditches and freshwater swamps. 0-800(-1100) m.
Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece. - Widespread in temperate regions of the N hemisphere. A native to Eurasia and North Africa, it is widespread around the Mediterranean. On Crete it is rare with limited distribution found only in marshy areas.
Flowering time:- May-July.
Photos by:- By kind permission of Saxifraga - Free Nature Images
Comments:-
All European species of this family grow in marshes or in shallow water at the edges of lakes, ponds, canals or slow rivers. Most of them, when growing in water, can produce linear, phyllodal submerged leaves which may or may not persist. When growing in relatively dry habitats the plants are usually dwarfed and may be misleadingly different from plants growing in wetter conditions.
