What is Callitriche?
Botanists created the name Callitriche by combining the Greek word calos , which means a beautiful, with a Greek word for hair, trichos . Beautiful, thin stems of aquatic plants inspired this name. It is the family of the Plantaginaceae family, but belonged to the family Callitrichaceae. It is located in almost all regions of the world that have shallow water or wetlands. The general name of these plants is Starwort. There are approximately 25 species of Callitriche plants around the world and about 22 of them are present in regions in the New World. About nine species come from the British Isles. The type Callitriche stagnalis comes from the African countries of Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, as well as for most of Europe and Asia. Some species are endemic only to one area, such as c. Marginata or California Water Starwort, which is only in California. The only noticeable difference is often in fruits, and botanists usually use an enlargement 10 to 20 times to analyze the fruit before the plant classification. To the untrainedThe eyes of him some Starwords resemble other aquatic plants, such as a common duck, which is often an invasive species. Another problem with the identification of a single species is the tendency of the plant to show different features in different growth conditions.
Most plants have two different types of leaves: floating and submerged. In most species, submerged leaves grow in pairs along the stems and differ from less than 0.25 inches (about 0.5 cm) to 1 inch (about 2.5 cm). Floating leaves are often less than 0.5 inches (1.0 cm) wide and are oval or round shape. In c. Verna , submerged leaves are linear or similar zone and c. Stagnalis and related species have elliptically shaped submerged leaves. c. Hermaphroditica or Northern Water Starwort, has a linear shape of the leaves and the leaves are completely immersed without floating leaves.
Flowers of Callitriche plants tend to be very small andThere are no petals or switch on, which are floral parts of the hatchery. These plants often have white documents that grow on the base of the leaves. Many species have unisexual flowers and lean itself. Each flower can produce up to four small fruit, which are often in the shape of a heart or have two ovals. Each fruit produces only one seed.
Callitriche plants grow in shallow waterways or wetlands where plants can draw nutrients from mud. The roots are generally freely anchored and the plant is easily released. This fragility is one of the reasons why many species of endav are their native regions. For example, in 2011, the Ministry of Natural Resources in Wisconsin introduced the great water Starwort or c. Heterophylla , as is endangered in Wisconsin and Michigan.
In general, Callitriche plants are not a valuable crop. Some herbalists use the plant as a diuretic, but in general no scientific study has approved its healing properties. Other usesEarly livestock grazing. In Australia c. Cyclocarpa or or western water Starwort is on a vulnerable list because domestic animals, wild rabbits and wild pigs ate a large number of plants.