Alisma gramineum
Encyclopedia
Alisma gramineum is a small aquatic plant
in the water-plantain
family. It has several common names including narrowleaf water-plantain, ribbonleaf water-plantain, and grass-leaved water-plantain. It grows in mud or submerged in shallow fresh
or brackish water
in marsh
y areas. The leaves and tiny purple-tinted white flowers may be submersed or not. When the flowers grow underwater they are cleistogamous
, meaning they stay closed and self-pollinate. When the flowers grow above water they open. The leaves above the surface are stiff and wide, but submerged leaves are ribbon-like. The fruit is a ring of dry nutlet
s. Reproduction is by seed or from division of the corm
. This plant has a wide distribution. It grows across North America
and Europe
and into North Africa
. This is an endangered and protected species in the United Kingdom
.
Aquatic plant
Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments. They are also referred to as hydrophytes or aquatic macrophytes. These plants require special adaptations for living submerged in water, or at the water's surface. Aquatic plants can only grow in water or in soil that is...
in the water-plantain
Alismataceae
The water-plantains are a family of flowering plants, comprising 11 genera and between 85-95 species. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the greatest number of species in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
family. It has several common names including narrowleaf water-plantain, ribbonleaf water-plantain, and grass-leaved water-plantain. It grows in mud or submerged in shallow fresh
Freshwater
Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...
or brackish water
Brackish water
Brackish water is water that has more salinity than fresh water, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing of seawater with fresh water, as in estuaries, or it may occur in brackish fossil aquifers. The word comes from the Middle Dutch root "brak," meaning "salty"...
in marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
y areas. The leaves and tiny purple-tinted white flowers may be submersed or not. When the flowers grow underwater they are cleistogamous
Cleistogamy
Cleistogamy or automatic self-pollination describes the trait of certain plants to propagate by using non-opening, self-pollinating flowers...
, meaning they stay closed and self-pollinate. When the flowers grow above water they open. The leaves above the surface are stiff and wide, but submerged leaves are ribbon-like. The fruit is a ring of dry nutlet
Nutlet
Nutlet may refer to one of the following.*A small nut.*In botany, a nutlet is a pyrena or pyrene, which is a seed covered by a stony layer, such as the kernel of a drupe....
s. Reproduction is by seed or from division of the corm
Corm
A corm is a short, vertical, swollen underground plant stem that serves as a storage organ used by some plants to survive winter or other adverse conditions such as summer drought and heat ....
. This plant has a wide distribution. It grows across North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and into North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
. This is an endangered and protected species in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.