Proserpinaca palustris | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Saxifragales |
Family: | Haloragaceae |
Genus: | Proserpinaca |
Species: | P. palustris |
Binomial name | |
Proserpinaca palustris | |
Proserpinaca palustris, the marsh mermaidweed or common mermaid-weed, [4] [5] is a species of flowering plant in the watermilfoil family (Haloragaceae). It is found in North America, the Caribbean, and Central America. [5]
Proserpinaca palustris has submerged leaves, which are sessile, 2–6 cm (1–2 in) long. They are deeply divided into linear segments and the emergent leaves are simply serrated. Fruits have concave sides and sharp or winged angles. [6] Leaves are divided into thread-like segments with a weak phloem and no xylem. The non-submerged leaves are broad with a serrated leaf margin and have a strong vascular system.
Proserpinaca palustris is heterophyllous, meaning that its leaves develop different morphology based on the environmental conditions. Humidity has been found to have the greatest impact on leaf variability. [7] There is no standard internode length or leaf orientation. Exposure to intense high light or elevated temperatures has the most effect on the submerged shoots of long-day plants, causing them to produce transitional leaf forms. [8] Proserpinaca palustris has fruit that is dry but does not split or burst when ripe. Proserpinaca palustris has an alternate leaf arrangement and radially symmetrical flowers, whose petals are fused into a cup-like shape. The stem of the plant ranges in color from green, brown, orange, to pink, with bright green to orange frond-like leaves. [9]
There are two varieties currently recognized by the International Plant Names Index: P. palustris var. australis and P. palustris var. palustris. Proserpinaca palustris L. has eight synonyms listed in the World Flora Online Plant List: P. heterophyla, P. serrata, P. tuberculate, P. palustris var. crebra, P. palustris var. palustris, P. amblygona, P. palustris var. pectinate, P. platycarpa, and P. palustris var. amblyogona. Several of these synonyms were once considered distinct varieties but have been reclassified by the World Flora Online Plant Index as of 2024. However, there is still debate about whether P. palustris var. crebra should be classified as a valid variety, with proponents distinguishing it through habitat and width of fruit. [10]
Proserpinaca palustris is commonly found in freshwater swamps, marshes, bogs, ponds, and shorelines in temperate climates in the Americas. It is found in the eastern half of North America, the Caribbean, Central America, and the southern coast of South America. It was recently observed as a probably introduction in the wetlands of the Southern Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina. This is common, as P. palustris is often found in disturbed areas, such as roadsides and ditches. [11] The Flora of the Southeastern US classifies P. palustris as a secure global species [12] and is most abundant in the coastal plain of eastern North America, though not found in brackish water or saltwater. According to the IUCN, it is not currently threatened and is listed as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List and as secure by the Canadian Endangered Species Conservation Council. However, though it is classified as a secure species, there are several states in the United States of America and several provinces in Canada whose populations are considered to be ‘Imperiled’ or ‘Critically Imperiled’.
Proserpinaca palustris is used commercially as decoration for aquariums, as they grow much slower and smaller in controlled environments like fish tanks. They act as habitat enrichment and a method of beautification. [13]
Proserpinanca palustris gets its name from the myth of Proserpina, or Persephone, the ancient Roman and Greek goddess of spring and the underworld. Carl Linnaeus drew inspiration from Pliny the Elder's Natural History when naming the plant, as a reference to the plant picked by Proserpina at the time of her abduction. Linnaeus saw a connection between the plant's ability to adapt to its environment and Proserpina's annual switch between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Parallels were drawn to Proserpina's duality of existence and heterophyllous leaves of P. palustris. [14]
Proserpinaca palistrus is often confused with Proserpinaca pectinata but can be distinguished through leaf and flower arrangement. Proserpinaca palustris is characterized as having flowers subtended by toothed bracts and leaf blades that measure between 20 and 40 mm (0.79 and 1.57 in) in length from tip to base, with the lower leaf blades being divided into 7 to 14 pairs of segments. Proserpinaca pectinata has flowers that are subtended by pinnately lobed or pinnately divided bracts and leaf blades that measure between 10 and 30 mm (0.39 and 1.18 in) in length, with lower leaf blades that are divided into 6 to 9 pairs of segments. [9]
Caltha palustris, known as marsh-marigold and kingcup, is a small to medium sized perennial herbaceous plant of the buttercup family, native to marshes, fens, ditches and wet woodland in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It flowers between April and August, dependent on altitude and latitude, but occasional flowers may occur at other times.
Drosera capillaris, also known as the pink sundew, is a species of carnivorous plant belonging to the family Droseraceae. It is native to the southern United States, the Greater Antilles, western and southern Mexico, Central America, and northern South America.
Sabal minor, commonly known as the dwarf palmetto, is a small species of palm. It is native to the deep southeastern and south-central United States and northeastern Mexico. It is naturally found in a diversity of habitats, including maritime forests, swamps, floodplains, and occasionally on drier sites. It is often found growing in calcareous marl soil. Sabal minor is one of the most frost and cold tolerant among North American palms.
Caltha is a genus of rhizomatous perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, to which ten species have been assigned. They occur in moist environments in temperate and cold regions of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Their leaves are generally heart-shaped or kidney-shaped, or are characteristically diplophyllous. Flowers are star shaped and mostly yellow to white. True petals and nectaries are missing but the five or more sepals are distinctly colored. As usual in the buttercup family there is a circle of stamens around free carpels.
Rudbeckia laciniata, the cutleaf coneflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to North America, where it is widespread in both Canada and the United States. Its natural habitat is wet sites in flood plains, along stream banks, and in moist forests. Common names other than cutleaf coneflower include cutleaf, goldenglow, green-headed coneflower, tall coneflower, sochan and thimbleweed.
Tiarella cordifolia, the heart-leaved foamflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Saxifragaceae. The specific name cordifolia means "with heart-shaped leaves", a characteristic shared by all taxa of Tiarella in eastern North America. It is also referred to as Allegheny foamflower, false miterwort, and coolwort.
Sarracenia leucophylla, also known as the crimson pitcherplant, purple trumpet-leaf or white pitcherplant, is a carnivorous plant in the genus Sarracenia.
Coreopsis basalis, commonly known as the goldenmane tickseed, is a North American plant species in the sunflower family. It is native to the southeastern and south-central United States from Texas to the Carolinas. Isolated populations have been reported from Connecticut, Illinois, and California.
Gazania linearis is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, with thin linear leaves, native to South Africa.
Lathyrus palustris is a species of wild pea known by the common name marsh pea. It is native to Europe, Asia, and North America. It is a perennial herb with leaves made up of oval-shaped or oblong leaflets a few centimeters long. It has branched, coiled tendrils. The plant bears an inflorescence of two to eight pinkish purple pea flowers each up to two centimeters wide. The fruit is a dehiscent legume pod.
Limnophila is a genus of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae. It is distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. Species are known commonly as marshweeds.
Thelypteris palustris, the marsh fern, or eastern marsh fern, is a species of fern native to eastern North America and across Eurasia. It prefers to grow in swamps, bogs, wet fields or thickets, fresh tidal and nontidal marshes, or wooded streambanks. The species epithet palustris is Latin for "of the marsh" and indicates its common habitat. It is the only known host plant for Fagitana littera, the marsh fern moth.
Ranunculus flabellaris is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup genus, Ranunculus, known by the common name yellow water buttercup or the yellow water crowfoot. It is native to much of North America, including the southern half of Canada and most of the United States.
Adiantum viridimontanum, commonly known as Green Mountain maidenhair fern, is a fern found only in outcrops of serpentine rock in New England and Eastern Canada. The leaf blade is cut into finger-like segments, themselves once-divided, which are borne on the outer side of a curved, dark, glossy rachis. These finger-like segments are not individual leaves, but parts of a single compound leaf. The "fingers" may be drooping or erect, depending on whether the individual fern grows in shade or sunlight. Spores are borne under false indusia at the edge of the subdivisions of the leaf, a characteristic unique to the genus Adiantum.
Galium circaezans, common name licorice bedstraw or wild licorice, is a plant species in the family Rubiaceae. It is native to the eastern half of the United States from the Great Plains to the Atlantic, plus Quebec and Ontario. There are also a few isolated populations in Washington state, probably adventive. Galium circaezans was originally described by André Michaux in Flora Boreali-Americana. It is also known as white licorice, forest bedstraw, and more. Galium circaezans is a weedy, herbaceous perennial or subshrub. It is native to Central and Eastern North America. Other synonyms of Galium circaezans include Galium brachiatum Muhl. (Illegitimate), Galium circaeoides Roem. & Schult, and Galium rotundifolium var. circaezans (Michx.) Kuntze. Galium circaezans is not threatened to go extinct.
Oxypolis rigidior, known as cowbane, common water dropwort, stiff cowbane, pig-potato, and Cherokee swamp potato, is a species of flowering plant in the carrot family native to eastern North America. It is a perennial wildflower found in wet habitats. Oxypolis rigidior has been reported as being poisonous to some mammals, but it is also considered edible and safe by some authors.
Proserpinaca, commonly called mermaidweed, is a genus of flowering plants in the watermilfoil family (Haloragaceae). It is a small genus, comprising only two to three extant species, all of which are native to eastern North America and the West Indies. All species in this genus are found in aquatic or terrestrial wetland habitats.
Pedicularis palustris, commonly known as marsh lousewort or red rattle, is a plant species in the family Orobanchaceae. It is native to central and northern Europe and Asia where it grows in wetlands and boggy habitats. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of least concern.
Pedicularis sylvatica, commonly known as common lousewort, is a plant species in the genus Pedicularis. It is native to central and northern Europe where it grows on moist acidic soils, moorland, grassy heathland and the drier parts of marshes.
Oenanthe fluviatilis, the river water-dropwort, is a flowering plant in the carrot family, Apiaceae, which is endemic to north-west Europe. It grows only in clear, unpolluted rivers and is declining throughout its range.