Flora of North America species comparison

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Elatine chilensis

Elatine

Chilean waterwort

mud-purslane, waterwort, élatine
Habit Herbs, emergent on wet substrates, 0.5–10 cm. Herbs, submersed or emergent aquatic, glabrous.
Stems

ascending or prostrate, branched.

erect, ascending, decumbent, or prostrate, with longitudinal air spaces, rooting at nodes.
Leaves

usually green, sometimes reddish green;

stipules triangular, 0.5–0.6 mm, margins entire, apex acute;

petiole 1–3 mm;

blade obovate to broadly spatulate, 3–4(–8) × 0.5–2.5 mm, base cuneate to rounded, apex obtuse to slightly emarginate.

stipules membranous;

petiole present or absent;

blade margins entire, with hydathodes.
Inflorescences

flowers usually solitary, sometimes 2[–3] per node.
Pedicels

absent.

present or absent.
Flowers

sepals 2–3, if 2, equal, if 3, 1 smaller, oblong, 0.5 × 0.3 mm;

petals 3, pinkish white to reddish, elliptic to ovate, 1–1.5 × 0.5 mm;

stamens 3;

styles 3.

sepals 2–4, connate basally, equal or 1 smaller, not carinate, apex obtuse;

petals (0 or) 2–4, apex obtuse;

stamens [0–]1–8;

pistil 2–4-carpellate, ovary 2–4-locular, apex truncate;

styles 2–4;

stigmas 2–4.
Capsules

depressed-ovoid, 3-locular, 1.5–2 mm diam.

membranous.
Seeds

23–33 per locule, ellipsoid, straight or curved to 20°, 0.4–0.5 × 0.1–0.2 mm;

pits angular-hexagonal, length 3–5 times width, in 6 rows, 16–25(–35) per row.

2–33[–44] per locule, brown to yellowish brown, straight or curved (nearly circular in E. californica), surface with hexagonal, rectangular, elliptic, or ± round pits (pits oriented with longer dimension at right angles to length of seed).
x

= 9.

Elatine chilensis

Elatine
Phenology Flowering summer.
Habitat Muddy shores (fresh or tidal), shallow vernal pools, ditches, rice fields.
Elevation 0–2800 m. (0–9200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NM; NV; OR; WA; South America
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
North America; Mexico; South America; Europe; Asia; Africa; Pacific Islands; Australia
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The distribution of Elatine chilensis has an amphitropical disjunction between western North America and southern South America. The minute seeds of E. chilensis probably have been dispersed between the two regions by birds (S. Carlquist 1983).

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

Species ca. 25 (10 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Petals 2; capsules 2-locular.
E. minima
1. Petals usually 3–4, sometimes 0; capsules 3–4-locular.
→ 2
2. Sepals 4; petals 4; capsules 4-locular.
→ 3
3. Seeds curved 90–180°; pedicels 1.5–2.5(–3.5) mm, recurved in fruit; w United States.
E. californica
3. Seeds straight or curved to 15º; pedicels 0.1–23 mm, erect; Quebec.
E. ojibwayensis
2. Sepals 2–3 (rarely 4 in E. triandra); petals 3 (sometimes 0 in E. ambigua); capsules 3-locular.
→ 4
4. Pedicels recurved in fruit, 0.5–2.5 mm.
E. ambigua
4. Pedicels erect, 0–0.5 mm.
→ 5
5. Stamens 1–6, number variable within plant.
E. heterandra
5. Stamens 3.
→ 6
6. Seed pits ± round, (9–)14–17 per row.
E. brachysperma
6. Seed pits angular-hexagonal, (13–)16–35 per row.
→ 7
7. Seeds ellipsoid, pit length 3–5 times width; stipule margins entire.
E. chilensis
7. Seeds oblong or slenderly cylindric, pit length 1–3 times width; stipule margins dentate.
→ 8
8. Leaves reddish green; seed pit length 1–2 times width.
E. rubella
8. Leaves light green to green; seed pit length 2–3 times width.
→ 9
9. Leaf blades linear, lanceolate or narrowly oblong, apices acute or obtuse.
E. triandra
9. Leaf blades obovate or broadly spatulate, apices rounded to shallowly emarginate.
E. americana
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 352. FNA vol. 12, p. 349. Authors: Hamid Razifard, Gordon C. Tucker, Donald H. Les.
Parent taxa Elatinaceae > Elatine Elatinaceae
Sibling taxa
E. ambigua, E. americana, E. brachysperma, E. californica, E. heterandra, E. minima, E. ojibwayensis, E. rubella, E. triandra
Subordinate taxa
E. ambigua, E. americana, E. brachysperma, E. californica, E. chilensis, E. heterandra, E. minima, E. ojibwayensis, E. rubella, E. triandra
Synonyms E. gracilis Crypta
Name authority Gay: Fl. Chil. 1: 286. (1846) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 367. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 172. (1754)
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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