Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Callitriche hetetophylla Pursh
- Family: Water-starwort (Callitrichaceae)
- Flowering: April-December
- Field Marks: The flowers of this species are subtended by a pair of tiny bracts. The spherical fruits are only about 1/16 inch long.
- Habitat: Shallow standing water, muddy soil.
- Habit: Delicate perennial herb.
- Stems: Floating in water or forming small mats on mud, slender, flattened, smooth, up to 1 foot long.
- Leaves: Opposite, simple, of 2 kinds, the submersed leaves linear, 1-nerved, smooth, up to 1 inch long, the floating leaves often in rosettes, obovate to spatulate, rounded at the tip, tapering to a short stalk at the base, 3- to 5 nerved, up to 3/4 inch long, smooth.
- Flowers: 1-3, in the axils of the leaves, the male separate from the female but on the same plant, minute, inconspicuous, each flower subtended by 2 tiny bracts.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 1.
- Pistils: Ovary superior; styles 2, persistent in fruit.
- Fruits: Nut-like, heart-shaped, sessile, 4-lobed but nearly spherical, about 1/16 inch long.
Previous Species -- Three-lobe Beggar-ticks (Bidens tripartita)
Return to Species List -- Group 7
Next Species -- Red Turtlehead (Chelone obliqua)
