Common Name: PLANTAIN FAMILY
Habit: Annual to shrub, some aquatic. Leaf: basal or cauline, alternate or opposite (whorled), simple, entire to dentate or lobed, venation generally pinnate; stipules 0. Inflorescence: raceme, spike, or flowers axillary in 1--few-flowered clusters; flowers few to many, each subtended by 1 bract. Flower: unisexual or bisexual, radial or bilateral; sepals 4--5, generally fused at base; corolla 4--5-lobed, scarious or not, persistent or not, generally 2-lipped, upper lip generally 2-lobed, lower generally 3-lobed, spur present or not, tube sac-like at base or not; stamens 2 or 4, alternate corolla lobes, epipetalous, staminode 0 or 1--2, anthers opening by 2 slits; ovary superior, [1]2--4-chambered, style 1, stigma lobes 0 or 2. Fruit: generally a capsule, septicidal, loculicidal, circumscissile, or dehiscing by terminal slits or pores.
Genera In Family: +- 110 genera, +- 2000 species: worldwide, especially temperate. Note: Veronicaceae sensu Olmstead et al. Recently treated to include Callitrichaceae, Hippuridaceae, and most non-parasitic California genera of Scrophulariaceae (except Buddleja, Diplacus, Erythranthe, Limosella, Lindernia, Mimetanthe, Mimulus, Myoporum, Scrophularia, Verbascum). California Maurandya moved to Holmgrenanthe and Maurandella. Mohavea moved to Antirrhinum. Limnophila ×ludoviciana Thieret an occasional agricultural weed in rice fields. Hebe ×franciscana (Eastw.) Souster, Hebe speciosa (R. Cunn.) Andersen only cultivated.
eFlora Treatment Author: Margriet Wetherwax, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Robert W. Patterson, Bruce G. Baldwin.

Common Name: WATER-STARWORT
Habit: Annual [perennial herb], in water or on wet ground; monoecious [dioecious]. Stem: slender, generally ascending under water, floating on surface, or prostrate on ground, generally much-branched. Leaf: generally opposite, 4-ranked, lance-linear to spoon-shaped, entire [lobed]. Inflorescence: flowers 1--2(4) per leaf axil, bracts 2, +- white, generally inflated, or 0. Flower: minute, unisexual; perianth 0. Staminate Flower: stamen 1, filament elongate. Pistillate Flower: ovary superior, slightly lobed at tip and base, chambers 4, styles 2, thread-like. Fruit: 0.6--1.6[2.4] mm, +- dry, +- grooved lengthwise, splitting into 4 achene-like units.
Etymology: (Greek: beautiful hair, from long linear submerged leaves of some of Medit taxa) Note: Taxonomically difficult; mature fruit and 10× magnification needed for identification. Callitriche peploides Nutt. a nursery weed in southern California; Callitriche stenocarpa Hegelm., misappl. to various California taxa, but recorded from many sites in the Rocky Mountains and could be expected in California.
eFlora Treatment Author: Richard V. Lansdown & Robert E. Preston
Reference: Lansdown 2009 Novon 19:364--369
Unabridged Reference: Fassett 1951 Rhodora 53:137--155, 161--182, 185--194, 209--222; Philbrick & Jansen 1991 Syst Bot 16:478--491; Philbrick & Les 2000 Aq Bot 68:123--141