Najas guadalupensis

guppy grass
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Alismatales
Family: Hydrocharitaceae
Genus: Najas
Species: N. guadalupensis
Binomial name
Najas guadalupensis
(Spreng.) Magnus
Synonyms[1]
  • Caulinia guadalupensis Spreng.
  • Najas arcana Subils & Hunz.
  • Najas flexilis var. guadalupensis (Spreng.) A.Braun
  • Najas microdon A.Braun
  • Najas microdon var. curassavica (A.Braun) A.Braun
  • Najas microdon var. guadalupensis (Spreng.) Morong
  • Najas punctata (A.Braun) Rendle
  • Najas urbaniana O.Schmidt

Najas guadalupensis (najas grass or guppy grass) is a species of aquatic plant known by the common name common water nymph. It is native to the Americas, where it is widespread. It is considered native to Central Canada from Alberta to Quebec, plus most of the contiguous United States, Mexico, Central America, the West Indies and South America. It is naturalized in Japan, Israel and Palestine.[2]

Najas guadalupensis is an annual, growing submerged in aquatic habitat types such as ponds, ditches, and streams. It produces a slender, branching stem up to 60 to 90 centimeters in maximum length. The thin, somewhat transparent, flexible leaves are up to 3 centimeters long and just 1 or 2 millimeters wide. They are edged with minute, unicellular teeth. Tiny flowers occur in the leaf axils; staminate flowers grow toward the end of the plant and pistillate closer to the base.[2][3][4][5][6]

Subspecies

Numerous varietal and subspecific names have been proposed. Only 4 are currently recognized:[1][7]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 The Plant List
  2. 2.0 2.1 Flora of North America v 22, Najas guadalupensis
  3. Magnus, Paul Wilhelm. 1870. Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Gattung Najas viii. Najas guadalupensis
  4. Sprengel, Curt Polycarp Joachim. 1824. Systema Vegetabilium, editio decima sexta 1: 20, Caulinia guadalupensis
  5. Subils, Rosa & Hunziker, Armando Theodoro. 1973.Lorentzia no. 2: 9, fig. 1, Najas arcana
  6. Schmidt, Otto Christian. 1925. Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis. Centralblatt für Sammlung und Veroffentlichung von Einzeldiagnosen neuer Pflanzen 22: 99, Najas urbaniana
  7. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, genus Najas
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Haynes, Robert Ralph & Hellquist, C. Baare. 1996. New combinations in North American Alismatidae. Novon 6(4): 370-371

External links