Common name: Water Star Grass
Heteranthera zosterifolia Mart. APNI* Description: Annual or perennial slender herb, with submerged and floating stems to 50 cm long, rooting at nodes,
Inflorescence a small raceme, 2–10-flowered; tepals white to pale blue, yellow at base, with tube 5–10 mm long and lobes spreading 3–6.5 mm long; stamens with white-pubescent filaments; style pubescent.
Capsule 0.5–1 mm long; seeds 8–14 per capsule, winged.
Distribution and occurrence: Naturalized near Port Macquarie (now eliminated there?) and on the central coast at Morriset. Native to South America. In and beside shallow freshwater bodies, in open situations.
NSW subdivisions: *NC, *CC
Cultivated as an ornamental in water gardens but potentially quite weedy in open, shallow waterbodies if naturalized - classifed in some regions as a noxious weed (legislation being revised currently).
Text by edited KL Wilson (Jan 2016)
Taxon concept:
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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