Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains

66. Pontederiaceae, the Pickerelweed Family

2. Zosterella Small

1. Zosterella dubia (Jacq.) Small -- Water stargrass


Usually submersed or partly floating perennial with lax stems and leaves, or occasionally stranded and forming tiny leafy rosettes on exposed mud or sand. Stems slender, elongate, freely branched, often rooting at the lower nodes, to 1 m long. Leaves alternate, sessile, stipitate, linear, obtuse to rounded or apiculate at the tip, 2-10(15) cm long, 2-5(7) mm wide, several-nerved, the midvein and others inconspicuous, stipular-winged at the base but not sheathing the stem. Flowers solitary in upper leaf axils, the membranous spathe surrounding the perianth tube for much of its length, 10-15 mm long, cuspidate to caudate at the apex; perianth tube slender, often curved, 15-35(70) mm long, the perianth segments pale yellow, linear, 4-6 mm long; stamens alike. Jun--Sep. Streams, lakes, ponds and impoundments; occasional in the e and c parts, especially in tributaries of major rivers; (Que. to ND and WA, s to FL, TX, CA and into Mex.). Heteranthera dubia (Jacq.) MacM.
GIF- Species Photo/Drawing
Zosterella dubia.
GIF- Distribution Map

Map key


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Return to Family -- Pontederiaceae - The Pickerelweed Family
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