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Published In: The Metaspermae of the Minnesota Valley 138. 1892. (Metasp. Minnesota Valley) Name publication detailView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status: Native

 

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1. Heteranthera dubia (Jacq.) MacMill. (water star‑grass)

Pl. 189 g, h; Map 674

Zosterella dubia (Jacq.) Small

Plants perennial. Stems elongate. Leaves mostly alternate, to 15 cm long, 2–5 mm wide, all linear, tapering basally and lacking a petiole, the tip acuminate. Flowers single, sessile in the leaf axils. Perianth yellow, actinomorphic, the tube elongate, 15–70(–120) mm long, the lobes linear to linear‑lanceolate, 5–12 mm long. Stamens all the same length, the filaments glabrous. 2n=30. June–September.

Common in the Ozark and Ozark Border Divisions, sporadic north of the Missouri River (U.S., Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba). Submerged or floating‑leaved aquatics in streams, rivers, spring branches, sloughs, rarely along lake margins, frequently rooting in mud.

This species often forms large, leafy, submerged masses in the cool, fast‑flowing waters of streams and spring branches in the Ozarks. However, it can also be found in warmer, more sluggish waters. Flowering occurs mostly in quiet backwaters or in situations where the plants colonize muddy banks. The species can also produce cleistogamous flowers that are entirely enclosed in the spathes. It provides food for waterfowl and mammals, which sometimes eat the foliage.

Many botanists separate this species into its own genus, Zosterella (Horn, 1985), based on details of its flowers and inflorescence structure and its monomorphic leaves. Rosatti (1987) has discussed reasons for maintaining it in Heteranthera. Sterile, submerged plants are sometimes mistaken for a Potamogeton, but leaves of H. dubia can be distinguished by the lack of a well‑defined midvein.

 


 

 
 
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