Najas marina

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Najas marina
Najas marina 060628 Korea.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Alismatales
Family: Hydrocharitaceae
Genus: Najas
Species:
N. marina
Binomial name
Najas marina
L.
Synonyms [2]
  • Ittnera major(All.) C.C.Gmel.
  • Ittnera najasC.C.Gmel.
  • Najas fluviatilisPoir.
  • Najas fucoidesGriff.
  • Najas gracilis(Morong) Small
  • Najas laevisLojac.
  • Najas latifoliaA.Braun
  • Najas majorAll.
  • Najas maritimaPall.
  • Najas microcarpa(A.Braun) Bolle ex Christ
  • Najas monospermaWilld.
  • Najas muricataThuill.
  • Najas polonicaZalewski
  • Najas tetraspermaWilld.

Najas marina is a species of aquatic plant known by the common names spiny water nymph, spiny naiad and holly-leaved naiad. It is an extremely widespread species, reported across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, the Americas and many oceanic islands. It can be found in many types of freshwater and brackish aquatic habitat, including bodies of alkaline water. [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Description

Najas marina is an annual producing a slender, branching stem up to 40 or 45 centimeters in maximum length. The evenly spaced leaves are up to 4 centimeters long, 1 to 3 millimeters wide, and edged in tiny sawlike teeth. The leaf has prickles along its midvein. Minute stalkless, green flowers occur in the leaf axils. The plant is dioecious, with male and female flower types occurring on separate individuals. [6] [4] [5] [7] [8] In the British Isles it is possible that only female plants occur. It flowers in mid-summer. [9]

Varieties and subspecies

A long list of varietal and subspecific names have been proposed over the years. At present, only nine are widely accepted: [2] [10]

Distribution and habitat

Najas marina has a wide, almost circumglobal distribution in temperate and tropical regions. It occurs in mesoeutrophic water over deep peat or mud. It was first recorded in the British Isles in 1883 at Hickling Broad in Norfolk where it had become established. Populations declined in the 1960s because of pollution, but action has been taken to reduce the level of nutrients in the Norfolk Broads and the water quality has improved. [11]

Fossil record

One fossil seed of Najas marina has been extracted from borehole samples of the Middle Miocene fresh water deposits in Nowy Sacz Basin, West Carpathians, Poland. [12]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Stratiotes</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Hydrocharitaceae

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<i>Menyanthes</i> Genus of flowering plants

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<i>Andromeda polifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Najas</i> Genus of aquatic plants

Najas, the water-nymphs or naiads, is a genus of aquatic plants. It is cosmopolitan in distribution, first described for modern science by Linnaeus in 1753. Until 1997, it was rarely placed in the Hydrocharitaceae, and was often taken as constituting the family Najadaceae.

<i>Hydrocotyle</i> Genus of aquatic plants

Hydrocotyle, also called floating pennywort, water pennywort, Indian pennywort, dollar weed, marsh penny, thick-leaved pennywort and white rot, is a genus of prostrate, perennial aquatic or semi-aquatic plants formerly classified in the family Apiaceae, now in the family Araliaceae.

<i>Najas minor</i> Species of aquatic plant

Najas minor, known as brittle naiad or brittle waternymph, is an annual aquatic plant, a submersed herb. It is native to Europe, Asia and North Africa from the Netherlands to Morocco east to Japan and the Philippines, including China, Siberia, Central Asia, Iran, Turkey, Ukraine, Germany, France Italy and a host of other countries. It is now introduced to North America and considered a weedy invasive species in the eastern half of the United States from Florida to Oklahoma to New Hampshire to Ontario to South Dakota. This plant prefers calm waters, such as ponds, reservoirs, and lakes, and is capable of growing in depths up to 4 meters.

<i>Polygonum aviculare</i> Species of plant

Polygonum aviculare or common knotgrass is a plant related to buckwheat and dock. It is also called prostrate knotweed, birdweed, pigweed and lowgrass. It is an annual found in fields and wasteland, with white flowers from June to October. It is widespread across many countries in temperate regions, apparently native to Eurasia, naturalized in temperate parts of the Southern Hemisphere.

<i>Sagittaria montevidensis</i> Species of plant

Sagittaria montevidensis is a species of flowering plant in the water-plantain family Alismataceae. Common names include giant arrowhead and California arrowhead.

<i>Najas guadalupensis</i> Species of aquatic plant

Najas guadalupensis is a species of aquatic plant known by the common names southern waternymph, guppy grass, najas grass, and common water nymph. It is native to the Americas, where it is widespread. It is considered native to Canada, and most of the contiguous United States, Mexico, Central America, the West Indies and South America. It has been introduced in Japan, Israel and Palestine.

<i>Patrinia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae

Patrinia is a genus of herbaceous plants in the honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae). There are about 17 species native to grassy mountain habitats in China, Siberia and Japan. These are unassuming clump-forming perennial plants having thin, erect stems with few leaves and bearing a terminal inflorescence with yellow or white flowers.

<i>Najas graminea</i> Species of aquatic plant

Najas graminea, also known as ricefield water-nymph is a species of aquatic plant found in freshwater habitats, especially still or slow-moving waters, like ponds and rice fields. It grows to a maximum length of 30 cm. The flowers are monoecious. The flowering season is from July to September.</ref>

<i>Najas gracillima</i> Species of plant in the family Hydrocharitaceae

Najas gracillima, the slender waternymph, is a submerged species of aquatic plant in the Hydrocharitaceae family. found in lakes and streams. It is native to China, Russian Far East, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Iran, Alberta, Ontario, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, the eastern United States. It is also considered introduced and naturalized in France, Spain, Italy and California.

Najas pseudogracillima, called the Hong Kong water nymph, is an aquatic plant growing in fresh water ponds. It is a rare and little-known species known from one collection from a pond on the campus of Chung Chi College at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. It is very similar to N. gracillima except that the male inflorescences lack a spathe.

References

  1. Lansdown, R.V. (2019). "Najas marina". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2019: e.T164322A120204953. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T164322A120204953.en . Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  2. 1 2 Najas marina L., The Plant List
  3. Stuckey, R. L. 1985. Distributional history of Najas marina (spiny naiad) in North America. Bartonia 51: 2--16.
  4. 1 2 "Najas marina in Flora of North America @ efloras.org". www.efloras.org. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
  5. 1 2 "Najas marina in Flora of China @ efloras.org". www.efloras.org. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
  6. von, Linné, Carl; Lars, Salvius (1753-01-01). "Caroli Linnaei ... Species plantarum". 2. Impensis Laurentii Salvii.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. Tzvelev, Nikolai Nikolaievich. 1976. Novosti Sistematiki Vysshikh Rastenii. Moscow & Leningrad 13: 18, Najas major var. polonica
  8. Triest, Ludwig J. 1988. Mém. Acad. Roy. Sci. Outre-Mer, Sci. Nat. Nouv. Sér. 22(1): 54 Najas marina var. ohwii
  9. McClintock, David; Fitter, R.S.R. (1961). The Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers. London: Collins. p. 200.
  10. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, genus Najas
  11. "Najus marina". Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  12. Łańcucka-Środoniowa M.: Macroscopic plant remains from the freshwater Miocene of the Nowy Sącz Basin (West Carpathians, Poland) [Szczątki makroskopowe roślin z miocenu słodkowodnego Kotliny Sądeckiej (Karpaty Zachodnie, Polska)]. Acta Palaeobotanica 1979 20 (1): 3-117.