Common Name: WATER-MILFOIL FAMILY
Habit: [Annual, shrub] perennial herb, generally aquatic or semiterrestrial, dioecious or monoecious. Leaf: cauline, opposite, alternate or whorled; submersed blades pinnately divided, segments thread-like; emergent leaves simple, entire to divided. Inflorescence: raceme, spike, or panicle; flowers 1 or clustered, short-pedicelled to +- sessile. Flower: generally unisexual, small; calyx tube short, fused to ovary, lobes 2--4; petals generally 2--4; stamens 4 or 8, filaments generally short; ovary inferior, chambers 1--4, styles 2--4, separate, stigmas generally plumose. Fruit: fleshy or of nut-like mericarps, dehiscent or not. Seed: generally 1 per chamber.
Genera In Family: 6--8 genera, +- 100 species: especially southern hemisphere, some cultivated. Note: Haloragis erecta (Murray) Eichler not naturalized in California.
eFlora Treatment Author: Adolf Ceska & Oldriska Ceska
Scientific Editor: Bruce G. Baldwin.

Common Name: WATER-MILFOIL
Habit: Plant from rhizomes, occasionally with overwintering buds (late in growing season); occasionally terrestrial. Stem: simple or branched, generally green. Leaf: submersed leaves generally whorled, 3--6 per node; emergent leaves entire to pinnately divided, occasionally bract-like. Inflorescence: generally emergent, spike-like, simple or branched, terminal, flowers in whorls. Flower: proximal pistillate, middle occasionally bisexual, distal staminate; calyx lobes 4; petals generally 4, ephemeral on staminate flowers, minute or 0 on pistillate flowers; stamens generally 8; ovary 4-chambered. Fruit: mericarps 4, nut-like.
Etymology: (Greek: many leaves, from leaf segments) Note: Myriophyllum specimens best collected in flower or fruit.
Unabridged Note: Plants should be washed first and then "floated" on the herbarium mounting paper in a shallow dish with water [see Ceska & Ceska 1987 Ann Missouri Bot Gard 73:825--827].
Reference: Ceska et al. 1986 Brittonia 38:73--81