Elodea bifoliata | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Order: | Alismatales |
Family: | Hydrocharitaceae |
Genus: | Elodea |
Species: | E. bifoliata |
Binomial name | |
Elodea bifoliata H.St.John, 1962 | |
Synonyms [2] | |
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Elodea bifoliata, commonly called twoleaf waterweed, is a species of perennial flowering plant in the waterweed genus, Elodea . It grows in much of the western United States and Canada. It was only recognized as a separate species in the 1960s. It is found growing in streams and shallow bodies of water.
Elodea bifoliata is an perennial aquatic plant that roots in the bottoms of freshwater streams and lakes. [3] It has small flat leaves just 4.7–24.8 millimeters long. [4] They are narrow and grass like or only slightly elliptic, 0.8–2.5 mm in width. There are usually just two leaves at each stem node, though there may be two or three per node at the middle of the stem. They are never crowded near the tip. [5]
Plants have separate seed producing and pollen producing inflorescences. A pollen producing, staminate inflorescence will have leaf like bracts 10 to 42 millimeters long. They are narrow at the base and 2–5 mm wide further out. [5] The staminate bracts are cylindrical, rather than flat like the leaves. [4] The pollen producing flowers are small, with sepals just 3.5–5 mm long and petals just 4.5–5 mm long, and are shed soon after opening. [5] Each flower will have seven to nine stamens. [4] The seed producing, pistillate flowers are smaller with 1.4–2.8 mm sepals and 1.8–4 mm petals. [5]
The seeds are deformed spheres densely covered in long hairs, 2.8–3 millimeters in size. [5]
Elodea bifoliata was only scientifically described by Harold St. John in 1962. It has no subspecies, but two species described at the same time by St. John, Elodea longivaginata and Elodea nevadensis, are considered to be synonyms. [2] His description was based upon plants that he collected from one of the Lake Mary reservoirs near Flagstaff in Coconino County, Arizona. [6]
Elodea bifoliata is placed in genus Elodea in Hydrocharitaceae, a family of aquatic plants. [3]
It is known by the common name twoleaf waterweed in English. [1]
Elodea bifoliata has a native range that extends over much of the western United States and Canada. [2] It is found in all the Rocky Mountain States including Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. To the east its range extends into five northern Great Plains states, Kansas, Nebraska, both Dakotas, and Minnesota. In the southwest the range includes Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. [7] Though the USDA does not record it there, the Jepson Herbarium reports that it grows in the farthest north eastern corner of California. [5] It also has been found in Oregon, but not in Washington State. The USDA also reports it from the eastern state of New York. [7]
In Canada it grows in four western provinces, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan according to Plants of the World Online. [2]
This species is only found growing in water such as streams and the shallow portions of lakes and reservoirs. [5]
Elodea is a genus of eight species of aquatic plants often called the waterweeds described as a genus in 1803. Classified in the frog's-bit family (Hydrocharitaceae), Elodea is native to the Americas and is also widely used as aquarium vegetation and laboratory demonstrations of cellular activities. It lives in fresh water. An older name for this genus is Anacharis, which serves as a common name in North America.
Elodea canadensis is a perennial aquatic plant, or submergent macrophyte, native to most of North America. It has been introduced widely to regions outside its native range and was first recorded from the British Isles in about 1836.
Layia platyglossa, commonly called coastal tidytips, is an annual wildflower of the family Asteraceae, native to western North America.
Monardella odoratissima is a perennial flowering plant. It is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae. It has the minty odor characteristic of this family. In 2020, Monardella villosa was included in M. odoratissima. As of April 2024, acceptance of the inclusion varies.
Elodea densa, the large-flowered waterweed or Brazilian waterweed, is a species of Elodea native to warm temperate South America in southeastern Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. It is considered a problematic invasive species due to its use in home aquariums and subsequent release into non-native ecosystems.
Pedicularis groenlandica is a showy flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae commonly known as elephant's head, little pink elephant, elephantella, or similar common names inspired by the resemblance of the flower to the head of an elephant. It is also less commonly known as butterfly tongue for the long beak on the flower. Like many other plants in genus Pedicularis, it is a parasitic plant and depends on host plants to survive.
Croton californicus is a species of croton known by the common name California croton. This plant is native to California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Baja California, where it grows in the deserts and along the coastline.
Elodea nuttallii is a species of waterweed known by the common name western waterweed or Nuttall's waterweed. This is a perennial aquatic plant which is native to North America where it grows submersed in lakes, rivers, and other shallow water bodies. It is also found in Eurasia, where it is commonly weedy; it is not known as a weed species in its native range. It is sometimes used as an aquarium plant.
Allagoptera caudescens is a species of flowering plant in the palm family endemic to Brazil, where it is known as buri palm. The older name Polyandrococos combines the Greek words for "many" and "anther" with the name of another palm genus Cocos, and the epithet is Latin for "bearlike", referring to the hairy tomentum. It was formerly classified as Polyandrococos caudescens, the only species in the genus Polyandrococos.
Carex alma is a species of sedge known by the common name sturdy sedge. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in moist spots in a number of habitat types. This sedge forms a thick clump of thin stems up to 90 centimeters in length and long, thready leaves. The leaves have basal sheaths with conspicuous red coloration, often spotting. The inflorescence is a dense to open cluster of many spikelets occurring both at the ends of stems and at nodes. Each cluster is up to 15 centimeters long and 1 to 2 wide. The plant is sometimes dioecious, with an individual sedge bearing either male or female flowers. The female, pistillate flowers have white or white-edged bracts. The male, staminate flowers have visible anthers 2 millimeters long or longer. The fruit is coated in a sac called a perigynium which is gold to dark brown in color and has a characteristic bit of spongy tissue at the base.
Carex angustata is a species of sedge known by the common name widefruit sedge. It is native to the western United States from Washington and Idaho to California, where it grows in wet meadows and on streambanks.
Sabulina pusilla is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names annual sandwort and dwarf stitchwort.
Myosurus apetalus is a species of flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae known by the common name bristly mousetail. It is native to much of western North America, as well as Chile. It grows in moist and wet habitat, such as marshes, meadows, and vernal pools. It is an annual plant forming a small tuft up to about 12 centimeters tall. The leaves are linear and narrow, sometimes threadlike, and reach up to 6 centimeters in length. The inflorescence produces a single flower which has an elongated, cylindrical or cone-shaped receptacle up to 1.5 centimeters long. At the base of the receptacle are small greenish sepals and sometimes petals 1 or 2 millimeters long, although the petals are often absent.
Petrorhagia dubia is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name hairy pink. It is native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean Basin, but it is known on other continents, including Australia and North and South America, as an introduced species and sometimes a weed. It is an annual herb growing 25 to 60 centimeters tall, but known to reach 90 centimeters in height. The leaves are up to 6 centimeters long, sheathing the stem at the bases. The inflorescence bears a head-like cluster of flowers, their bases enclosed in a large, expanded mass of wide, claw-tipped bracts. The flower corollas are each further encased in a tubular calyx of sepals. The petals are bright pink to magenta or lavender in color with darker veins. Each is heart-shaped or divided into two lobes at the tip. The fruit is a capsule containing many tiny seeds.
Isotria is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae.
Stellaria littoralis is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name beach starwort. It is endemic to the San Francisco Bay Area and North Coast of California, where it grows in moist coast habitat, such as marshes, bogs, and coastal bluffs. It is a rhizomatous perennial herb producing sprawling, branching stems which are four-angled and hairy in texture, reaching up to about 60 centimeters long. The lance-shaped or pointed oval leaves are up to 4.5 centimeters long and are oppositely arranged in pairs. The inflorescence bears several flowers, each on a short pedicel. The flower has five hairy, pointed green sepals each a few millimeters long. There are five white petals, each so deeply lobed it appears to be two.
Stemodia durantifolia is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family commonly known as the whitewoolly twintip and purple stemodia. Stemodia durantifolia is native to the Americas, including Chile, Mexico, Texas, and the deserts of California and Arizona, and is often found in riparian habitats, preferring wet sand and rocks. It is a perennial herb producing a hairy, glandular, erect stem 10–100 cm (3.9–39.4 in) tall, with the toothed lance-shaped leaves found in pairs or triplets, attached to the stem with clasping bases. The inflorescence is a raceme of violet flowers, with each corolla held in a calyx of hairy, pointed sepals, and can often be found in bloom year-round. Although globally at low risk of extinction, Stemodia durantifolia is imperiled in California due to its rarity and threats from development.
Tetracoccus hallii is a species of flowering shrub in the family Picrodendraceae, known by the common names Hall's shrubby-spurge and Hall's tetracoccus.
Pseuduvaria grandifolia is a species of plant in the family Annonaceae. It is native to New Guinea. Otto Warburg, the German-Jewish botanists who first formally described the species using the basionym Stelechocarpus grandifolius, named it after its large leaves.
Dudleya cymosasubsp. costatifolia, known commonly as the Pierpoint Springs dudleya or the Pierpoint Springs liveforever, is a species of succulent plant in the family Crassulaceae, narrowly endemic to a locality in Tulare County, California, United States. It is a clumping plant with small rosettes and bright yellow flowers, resembling alpine cushion plants.