| Potamogeton lucens | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Alismatales |
| Family: | Potamogetonaceae |
| Genus: | Potamogeton |
| Species: | P. lucens |
| Binomial name | |
| Potamogeton lucens | |
| Synonyms [2] | |
| |
Potamogeton lucens, or shining pondweed, [3] [1] is an aquatic perennial plant native to Eurasia and North Africa. It grows in relatively deep, still or slow-flowing, calcareous freshwater habitats.
Shining pondweed is a large plant with robust creeping rhizomes and long, terete, branching stems, typically up to 2.5 m but exceptionally to 6 m. The leaves are large, 75–200 mm (exceptionally more) long and 25–65 mm wide, 2-6 times as long as broad; [4] as with the smaller P. gramineus, the leaves on the branches are smaller than those on the main stem. The leaves are pale green or yellowish, translucent, shiny with distinctive netted veining, minutely denticulate margins, and a short petiole of 1–12 mm. [4] Floating leaves are absent.
Flowers appear between June and September. [5] The fruits are 3 mm across.
Like most other broad-leaved pondweeds, Potamogeton lucens is tetraploid, with 2n=52. [6]
Over much of its range, shining pondweed is not likely to be confused with any other species. However, in southern Europe the related and quite similar P. schweinfurthii has recently been discovered. [7] [8] P. lucens can usually be distinguished by its relatively broader leaves, 2-6 times as long as they are broad, and most or all of which are petiolate, but some forms are very difficult to distinguish without a detailed comparison of multiple characters. [7]
However, there are hybrids with various other pondweed species including P. gramineus (P. × angustifoliusJ.Presl.), P. perfoliatus (P. × salicifoliusWolfg.), P. alpinus (P. × nervigerWolfg.), P. nodosus (P. × subrufusHagstr.) P. sarmaticus (P. × pseudosarmaticusPapch.), P. crispus (P. × cadburyaeDandy & G.Taylor), P. praelongus (P. × jutlandicusZalewska-Gał.) and P. natans (P. × fluitansRoth). [4] It hybridises with P. wrightii (P. × inbaensisKadono)in Japan [9] and China. [10] Some of these hybrids can be quite common, and are not always easy to distinguish from P. lucens. [4]
A triple hybrid, P. gramineus × lucens × perfoliatus (P. × torssandrii(Tiselius) Dörfler), is also known.
Potamogeton lucens (lucens meaning 'shining') was one of the original species named by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum (1753). Shining pondweed is morphologically quite variable, and as a result has received a bewildering number of synonyms.[ citation needed ]
DNA analysis indicates that P. lucens is one of the broad-leaved pondweed clade (section Potamogeton) and is probably most closely related to P. gramineus and the North American P. illinoensis . [11]
Potamogeton lucens is native to Europe (including Britain, continental Europe, Scandinavia), Asia (Afghanistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan), the Middle East and North Africa. [12] In North America it is replaced by the rather similar P. illinoensis .[ citation needed ]
A furanolabdane diterpenoid extracted from P. lucens is algicidal. [13]
Dried and ground shining pondweed has been shown to be effective at binding heavy metals, raising the possibility of using biomass from this plant as a means of treating contaminated sediments. [14] [15]
Potamogeton lucens is strictly a lowland plant of standing or slow-flowing calcareous water, [16] especially favouring peatland areas with a calcareous water supply such as the Cambridgeshire Fens. [4] Although having a preference for deep water (0.5-2.0 m), [17] it can persist in shallow areas, and may also grow in open reedbeds, which may provide a refuge in eutrophic waters. [4]
Shining pondweed is more prevalent in older, poorly connected floodplain lakes [17] [18] and is a poor colonizer, slow to regenerate following floods [19] and intolerant of drawdown. [17] In Britain shining pondweed is mainly restricted to southern England with scattered outposts in Scotland and Wales, but is more widespread in Ireland. [4] It is tolerant of eutrophication to some extent and in marl lakes it may replace Chara spp. as nutrient levels increase, before itself being ousted by fine-leaved pondweeds and eventually phytoplankton at higher nutrient levels. In a study of nutrient-rich river backwaters in the R. Tisza (Hungary), shining pondweed was tolerant of very high phosphate concentrations, so long as chemical oxygen demand and chlorophyll-a concentrations in the water were not too high. [20] In the Netherlands, the invasive Elodea nuttallii may compete with it for habitat. [17]
Globally and on the majority of national Red Lists, shining pondweed is not considered threatened. [21] P. lucens has declined somewhat in Britain, but still remains reasonably widespread. [22]
Shining pondweed is one of the so-called Magnopotamion group of pondweeds. These are a characteristic floristic component of the protected Habitats Directive habitat Type 'Natural eutrophic lakes with Magnopotamion'. [23]
Shining pondweed is rarely cultivated, even though it is both easy to grow and an attractive plant. Its distinctive, large, transparent netted leaves are unlike any other commonly cultivated pond plant. In common with other pondweeds of this group it roots poorly from stem cuttings and is best propagated by division of the rhizomes. It is easy to grow in a garden pond or even in a barrel, but unlike some other submerged plants needs to be able to root in a suitable substrate such as sand or aquatic compost. Plants being established should be weighted down initially to allow them to root. Where waterfowl grazing is likely, protection will be necessary, especially in the early summer growth period. [24]
Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments. They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that grows in or near water and is either emergent, submergent, or floating. In lakes and rivers macrophytes provide cover for fish, substrate for aquatic invertebrates, produce oxygen, and act as food for some fish and wildlife.
The Potamogetonaceae, commonly referred to as the pondweed family, is an aquatic family of monocotyledonous flowering plants. The roughly 110 known species are divided over six genera. The largest genus in the family by far is Potamogeton, which contains about 100 species.
Potamogeton is a genus of aquatic, mostly freshwater, plants of the family Potamogetonaceae. Most are known by the common name pondweed, although many unrelated plants may be called pondweed, such as Canadian pondweed. The genus name means "river neighbor", originating from the Greek potamos (river) and geiton (neighbor).
Potamogeton crispus, the crisp-leaved pondweed, curly pondweed, curly-leaf pondweed or curled pondweed, is a species of aquatic plant (hydrophyte) native to Eurasia but an introduced species and often a noxious weed in North America.
Potamogeton perfoliatus is a perennial aquatic plant in the family Potamogetonaceae occurring in both standing and flowing freshwater habitats. It is widely distributed globally, occurring in all continents except South America and Antarctica.
Potamogeton praelongus, commonly known as whitestem pondweed in North America and long-stalked pondweed in Britain, is a large, perennial aquatic plant in the family Potamogetonaceae. It is widely distributed in lakes and rivers in the northern hemisphere, but is sensitive to poor water quality.
Potamogeton polygonifolius or bog pondweed, is an aquatic plant. It is found in shallow, nutrient-poor, usually acid standing or running water, bogs, fens and occasionally ditches.
Potamogeton coloratus, the fen pondweed, is an aquatic plant in the genus Potamogeton. It is found in shallow peaty calcareous lakes, ponds and ditches, commonly associated with lowland fens.
Potamogeton alpinus is a species of perennial aquatic plant known by the common names alpine pondweed and red pondweed. It is widespread in the northern hemisphere in both rivers and lakes with good water quality.
Potamogeton diversifolius is a species of aquatic plant known by the common names waterthread pondweed and diverse-leaved pondweed. It is native to most of the United States, as well as sections of southwestern Canada, and northern Mexico, where it grows in water bodies such as ponds, lakes, ditches, and slow-moving streams. This is a perennial herb producing a very narrow, compressed stem branching to a maximum length around 35 centimeters. It has thin, pointed linear leaves a few centimeters long spirally arranged about the thin stem. The inflorescence is a small spike of flowers emerging from the water surface. Inflorescences also grow on submersed sections of the stem; these are smaller and spherical. It can be difficult to distinguish from similar species of pondweed.
Potamogeton epihydrus is a perennial aquatic plant known by the common names ribbonleaf pondweed and Nuttall's pondweed, and American pondweed in the United Kingdom. It is native to much of North America, where it grows in water bodies such as ponds, lakes, ditches, and slow-moving streams.
Potamogeton gramineus is a species of aquatic plant known by the common name various-leaved pondweed, variableleaf pondweed, grass-leaved pondweed or grassy pondweed, native to the northern hemisphere where it grows in shallow, clean water.
Potamogeton pusillus is a species of aquatic plant known by the common names small pondweed, lesser pondweed or least pondweed. It occurs in standing and slow-flowing freshwater habitats throughout the Northern Hemisphere.
Potamogeton compressus is a species of aquatic plant known by the common names grass-wrack pondweed, flatstem pondweed and eel-grass pondweed.
Potamogeton obtusifolius, known as blunt-leaved pondweed, is an aquatic plant in the genus Potamogeton. It grows mainly in mesotrophic to eutrophic lakes, ponds and ditches, rarely in brackish water. It occurs primarily in Central Europe, the British Isles, Fennoscandia and eastern North America.
Potamogeton berchtoldii, common name small pondweed is an aquatic plant.
Potamogeton acutifolius is a European species of aquatic plant in the family Potamogetonaceae, known by the common name sharp-leaved pondweed. It is threatened and declining in at least part of its range.
Potamogeton trichoides is a species of aquatic plant known by the common name hairlike pondweed, native to Europe and western Asia where it grows in calcareous, usually nutrient-rich standing or slow-flowing water.
Potamogeton × angustifolius is a hybrid pondweed between Potamogeton gramineus and Potamogeton lucens, known as long-leaved pondweed. It is widespread in rivers and lakes except where the water is very soft.
Potamogeton friesii, known as flat-stalked pondweed, or Fries' pondweed, is an aquatic plant in the genus Potamogeton. It grows mainly in mesotrophic to eutrophic rivers, lakes, ponds and ditches, rarely in brackish water. It occurs in North America, Europe, western Asia and a few scattered locations elsewhere in Asia.
