Elatine minima

Small Waterwort

Small Waterwort
Photo courtesy Wisconsin State Herbarium and Robert W. Freckmann

Flora, fauna, earth, and sky...
The natural history of the northwoods

Name:

• Elatine, from the Greek, 'elatinos (elatinos), "of the fir"; used by Pliny to refer to a plant of the genus Antirrhinum (Snapdragons).
• minima, from the Latin, "small"
• Common name from its size relative to other Waterworts

Taxonomy:

• Kingdom Plantae, the Plants
  • Division Magnoliophyta, the Angiosperms (flowering plants)
    • Class Magnoliopsida, the Dicotyledons
    • Subclass Dilleniidae
      • Order Theales,
        • Family Elatinaceae, the Waterworts
          • Genus Elatine, the Waterworts
• Taxonomic Serial Number: 21411

Description:

• A small, annual herb, forming small moss-like mats on mud.
• Leaves opposite, oblong to obovate, rounded at tip, to 4mm long, petioles absent. Small membranous stipules in leave axils.
• Stem smoothe, branching, to 2" long.
• Roots unbranched, thread-like
• Flowers small, single, and stalkless in leaf axils
  • Sepals 2
  • Petals 2
  • Stamens
  • Pistil 3 styles
  • Ovary superior (within blossom)
• Fruit a round capsule
• Seed has rows of small rounded pits

Identification:

• A small, inconspicuous plant of muddy shores and very shallow waters.
• Distinguished from other small, inconspicuous shoreline plants by its opposite leaves with small, membranous stipules in the leaf axils.
• Distinguished from the closely related, and in our area much less common, Long Stem Waterwort (Elatine triandra) by having flowers with 2 sepals and 2 petals rather than 3.

Distribution:

• Newfoundland to Ontario and Minnesota, south to Maryland and Virginia.

Habitat:

• Shallow water and wet shores along lakes and ponds, usually where sandy or mucky.

Associates:

History:

Uses:

Reproduction:

• By seed

Propagation:

Cultivation:

• Hardy to USDA Zone 3 (average minimum annual temperature -40ºF)
• Not known to be available commercially.

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