Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Ceratophyllum demersum L.
- Family: Coontail (Ceratophyllaceae)
- Flowering: July-September
- Field Marks: This aquatic plant is distinguished by its whorled, toothed leaves and its tiny, sessile, axillary flowers and beaked fruits.
- Habitat: Lakes, ponds, slow streams.
- Habit: Herbaceous aquatic perennial.
- Stems: Much branched, elongated, smooth, varying in length according to the depth of the water.
- Leaves: Whorled, sessile, up to 1 1/2 inches long, smooth, divided usually into 3-forked, nearly thread-like segments, the segments flattened and toothed.
- Flowers: Solitary in the axils of the leaves, the male and female borne separately, each subtended by an 8- to 12-cleft bract.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 10-20.
- Pistils: One, the ovary superior.
- Fruits: Achenes ellipsoid, flattened, smooth, wingless, the body 1/6-1/4 inch long, with 2 basal spurs up to 1/4 inch long and a beak 1/8-1/4 inch long.
- Notes: The length and texture of the stems, the degree of toothing on the leaves, and the characters of the fruit are all variable. The fruits are eaten by ducks.
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