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• Aquatic plants
• Water plants with leaves and stems
• Callitriche palustris

Callitriche palustris — vernal water-starwort

Facts

Vernal water-starwort prefers still or slow-moving waters, but it sometimes becomes exposed as water levels decline. Ducks and other waterfowl eat the leaves and fruit. It also provides protective habitat for fish. Water starworts (Callitriche) are remarkable for having flowers able to be pollinated by wind when emergent (anemophily), by water when floating at the surface (epihydrophily), as well as when submerged (hypohydrophily).

Habitat

Lacustrine (in lakes or ponds), shores of rivers or lakes, swamps

Characteristics

• Clonal plantlets

  Turion length

  0 mm

• Flowers

  Anther color

  there is a noticeable pink, reddish or purplish tint to the anthers

  Anther length

  0.2–1.5 mm

  Carpels fused

  the carpels are fused to one another

  Flower lower lip length

  0 mm

  Flower number

  1

  Flower position

  the flowers are below the surface of the water

  Flower symmetry

  NA

  Inflorescence type

  • the flowers grow out of the axil (point where a branch or leaf is attached to the main stem)
  • the inflorescence has only one flower on it

  Length of flower stalk

  0 mm

  Length of peduncle

  0 mm

  Nectar spur

  the flower has no nectar spurs

  Number of carpels

  0–2

  Ovary position

  the sepals and/or petals are attached below the ovary

  Palate on corolla

  NA

  Petal and sepal arrangement

  the flower includes neither petals nor sepals

  Petal appearance

  NA

  Petal color

  NA

  Petal fringed edges

  NA

  Petal fusion

  NA

  Petal hairs on inner/upper surface

  NA

  Petal length

  0 mm

  Petal number

  0

  Petal or sepal number

  there are no petals, sepals, or tepals in the flower, or they are not clearly present

  Pistil number

  • 0
  • 1

  Sepal appearance

  NA

  Sepal length

  0 mm

  Sepal number

  0

  Sepals fused only to sepals

  NA

  Spur length

  0 mm

  Stamen length

  1.5–3 mm

  Stamen number

  • 0
  • 1 or 2
  • 3

  Stamen position relative to petals

  NA

  Stamens fused

  NA

  Stamens fused to petals

  • NA
  • the stamens are not fused to the petals or tepals

  Style length

  0.7–6 mm

  Style number

  0–2

• Fruits or seeds

  Fruit length

  1–1.4 mm

  Fruit type (general)

  the fruit is dry but does not split open when ripe

  Fruit type (specific)

  the fruit is a schizocarp (when dry it splits into sections, each holding one or more seeds)

  Fruit width

  0.8–1.2 mm

• Glands or sap

  Oil glands on nodes

  none of the nodes have oil glands

  Sap

  the sap is clear and watery

• Growth form

  Lifespan

  the plant lives only a single year or less

  Root septa

  the roots do not have transverse septa

  Roots floating in water

  there are no clusters of roots floating in the water

  Turions

  there are no turions on the plant

  Underground organs

  there are only slender roots on the plant

• Leaves

  Bract position (Sparganium)

  NA

  Bract relative length

  At least 1379 mm

  Bracts

  the flowers or their pedicels have bracts at their bases

  Floating leaf basal lobes

  no

  Floating leaf blade width

  1.2–5 mm

  Floating leaf length

  3.6–10.3 mm

  Floating leaf shape

  • the leaf blade is oblanceolate (lance-shaped, but with the widest point above the middle of the leaf blade)
  • the leaf blade is obovate (egg-shaped, but with the widest point above the middle of the leaf blade)

  Floating leaf tip

  • the tip of the floating leaf blade is obtuse (bluntly pointed)
  • the tip of the floating leaf blade is retuse (blunt or rounded, with a notch at the tip)

  Floral bract form

  the bracts are roughly as lobed as the foliage leaves

  Floral bract length

  0.5–1.5 mm

  Leaf arrangement

  • opposite: there are two leaves per node along the stem
  • whorled: there are three or more leaves per node along the stem

  Leaf blade length

  3.6–15 mm

  Leaf blade veins

  the lateral veins radiate from the base and continue to spread away from the centerline of the leaf, or branch off the central vein at intervals

  Leaf blade width

  0.3–5 mm

  Leaf position

  some of the leaves are floating at the surface of the water

  Leaf special features

  none of the mentioned special features are present

  Leaf-like branch segments

  0

  Leaf-like branch shape

  NA

  Specific leaf type

  the leaf is not divided, rather the blade is made up of one segment

  Staminate bract edge (Myriophyllum)

  NA

  Stipule appearance

  NA

  Stipule fused to leaf

  NA

  Stipules

  there are no stipules on the plant

  Stipules fused around stem

  NA

  Trap-bladder length

  0 mm

  Underwater leaf air passage number

  At least 1439

  Underwater leaf air passage relative width

  At least 4336

  Underwater leaf air passage row number

  0

  Underwater leaf blade edges

  the underwater leaf has smooth edges, without teeth

  Underwater leaf blade shape

  the underwater leaf blade is linear (very narrow with more or less parallel sides)

  Underwater leaf blade veins

  1

  Underwater leaf blade width

  0.3–1 mm

  Underwater leaf length

  5–15 mm

  Underwater leaf stalk

  • no
  • yes

  Underwater leaf tip shape

  • the tip of the underwater leaf is obtuse (bluntly pointed)
  • the tip of the underwater leaf is retuse (blunt or rounded, with a notch at the tip)

  Veins in floating leaf

  3–5

• Place

  Habitat

  aquatic

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Maine
  • Massachusetts
  • New Hampshire
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont

  Specific habitat

  • in lakes or ponds
  • shores of rivers or lakes
  • swamps

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Flowering stem growth form

  the flowering stem trails along the substrate, or floats in the water

Wetland status

Occurs only in wetlands. (Wetland indicator code: OBL)

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae