Flora of North America species comparison

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Callitriche brutia

Callitriche hermaphroditica

narrow-leaf water-starwort

autumn water-starwort, autumnal water-starwort, callitriche hermaphrodiate, northern water-starwort, scarlet waterstarwort
Stem

and leaf scales absent.
Leaves

not connate at base, ± linear, tapering from base, (7–)7.6–11.5 × 0.9–1.4 mm, 1-veined.
Inflorescences

bracts absent.
Pedicels

0 mm in fruit.
Flowers

solitary;

styles erect, later recurved;

pollen colorless.
Schizocarps

1.1–1.9 × 1.2–2.4 mm, shorter than or as long as wide, sometimes longer than wide;

mericarps dark brown, not swollen, winged throughout, wings straight, 0.2–0.8 mm wide, as wide as or wider than mericarp body.
2n

= 6.

Callitriche brutia

Callitriche hermaphroditica
Phenology Flowering Jul–Sep(–Nov).
Habitat Lakes, ponds, backwaters, ditches.
Elevation 0–3000 m. (0–9800 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
OR; WA; BC; Europe; Africa [Introduced to Australia]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; CO; ID; MT; NE; NJ; NY; OR; UT; VT; WI; WY; AB; BC; NF; NT; ON; QC; SK; Greenland; Eurasia
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (1 in the flora).

Variety brutia is known from Europe and Africa plus is introduced to Australia; it differs from var. hamulata in chromosome number (2n = 28) and pedicellate fruit.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Infraspecific divisions have been based on the size of fruit (for example, R. V. Lansdown 2006); assignment of North American populations to these taxa would be premature.

Callitriche autumnalis Linnaeus is a superfluous renaming of C. hermaphroditica, with which it is homotypic (R. V. Lansdown and C. E. Jarvis 2004).

Callitriche fassettii, C. hermaphroditica, and C. stenoptera are morphologically very close; however, C. hermaphroditica always has sessile fruit, whereas the fruit of both the other species may be pedicellate. The mericarp wing of C. stenoptera is consistently very narrow and that of C. fassettii is slightly wider than that of C. hermaphroditica, which is generally wide, particularly at the apex.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 50. FNA vol. 17, p. 51.
Parent taxa Plantaginaceae > Callitriche Plantaginaceae > Callitriche
Sibling taxa
C. fassettii, C. hermaphroditica, C. heterophylla, C. longipedunculata, C. marginata, C. palustris, C. pedunculosa, C. peploides, C. stagnalis, C. stenoptera, C. terrestris, C. trochlearis
C. brutia, C. fassettii, C. heterophylla, C. longipedunculata, C. marginata, C. palustris, C. pedunculosa, C. peploides, C. stagnalis, C. stenoptera, C. terrestris, C. trochlearis
Subordinate taxa
C. brutia var. hamulata
Synonyms C. bifida, C. palustris var. bifida
Name authority Petagna: Inst. Bot. 2: 10. (1787) Linnaeus: Cent. Pl. I, 31. (1755)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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