Common Name: WATERWORT FAMILY Habit: Annual, short-lived perennial herb, in or near water; roots fibrous, from taproot or not, generally from lower leaf axils also. Stem: generally soft. Leaf: simple, opposite, +- 4-ranked; stipules scarious. Inflorescence: flowers in upper axils, 1 or few in clusters. Flower: small, inconspicuous, radial, bisexual; sepals, petals 2--5, equal in number, generally free; ovary spheric, styles 3--5, short. Fruit: capsule, septicidal, +- spheric, ovoid, or depressed-ovoid, walls thin; chambers 2--5, each several to many-seeded. Seed: small; surface net-like or glossy. Genera In Family: 2 genera, 50 species: +- worldwide. eFlora Treatment Author: Gordon C. Tucker & Evanielis U. Grissom Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Common Name: WATERWORT Stem: Erect underwater, +- prostrate on wet ground, branched or not; base not woody. Leaf: petiole < 1/3 blade, flat, +- blade-like; blades narrow-elliptic to +- round, +- entire, bases wedge-shaped to +- round, tips round. Inflorescence: flowers 1(2) per node. Flower: sepals, petals wide-elliptic, membranous; sepals pale green; petals pale green-white; stamens (1) 3, 6, 8, filaments 1/2 × to +- equal petals, anthers wide-ovoid; styles 3--4. Fruit: +- spheric or depressed-ovoid; chambers 3--4, each 3--15-seeded; pedicel generally +- 0. Seed: +- visible through fruit wall, elliptic, straight or curved, brown to yellow-brown; surface net-like due to ridges between +- linear rows of pits. Species In Genus: +- 25 species: worldwide. Etymology: (Greek: fir tree, from a European species that suggests such a plant in miniature) Note: At least 20× magnification needed for pits on seeds.
Elatine californica A. Gray
NATIVE Stem: decumbent to erect, 1--5 cm. Leaf: oblong, tapered to base; petiole +- 1/2 blade. Inflorescence: flowers 1 per node. Flower: sepals 4, fused in basal +- 1/3, separating in fruit; petals 4, >, wider than sepals; stamens 8. Fruit: chambers 4; pedicel recurved, 2--3 × fruit. Seed: oblong to elliptic, curved 90--180°; pits +- 15 per row, as wide as or wider than long. Ecology: Pools, ponds, rice fields, streambanks; Elevation: 50--1900 m. Bioregional Distribution: s NCoRH (Snow Mtn), GV, SnFrB; Distribution Outside California: to Washington, Baja California. Flowering Time: Mar--Aug Jepson eFlora Author: Gordon C. Tucker & Evanielis U. Grissom Jepson Online Interchange Previous taxon: Elatine brachysperma Next taxon: Elatine chilensis
Botanical illustration including Elatine californica
Citation for this treatment: Gordon C. Tucker & Evanielis U. Grissom 2012, Elatine californica, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=23919, accessed on May 20, 2019.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2019, Jepson eFlora, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on May 20, 2019.
Geographic subdivisions for Elatine californica:
s NCoRH (Snow Mtn), GV, SnFrB
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).
Data provided by the participants of the
Consortium of California Herbaria.
MAP LEGEND View all CCH records All markers link to CCH specimen records. The original determination is shown in the popup window.
Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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CCH collections by month
Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time.
