Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Myriophyllum crispatum
Common name
Upright water-milfoil, Water-milfoil
Family
Haloragaceae
Where found
Still water or mud. ACT, tablelands, and Western Slopes. Sydney area. Occasional elsewhere.
Notes
Perennial herb to 0.6 m tall, rooting at the nodes in lants growing on mud. 'Seeds' prickly. Stems hairy to hairless. Emergent leaves in whorls of 5-9, the lower leaves deeply segmented, comb-shaped with 6-8 linear segments, the uppermost cylindrical, mostly 0.5-2 cm long. Submerged leaves in whorls of 5-9, 1-5.5 cm long, with 12-20 linear segments. Submerged leaves often absent in terrestrial or marsh plants. Male and female flowers on the same plant. Male flowers with 4 cream to reddish brown or purple hooded petals 2-3 mm long which fall off easily. Female flowers tiny, with 0 petals, 0 sepals, with 4 white to pink stigmas, the ovary deep red. Flowers single at the base of whorled leaves.. Flowers mainly Oct.–Apr.
Definite identification of species of Myriophyllum often requires microscopic examination of the seed cases, beyond the scope of this key.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Myriophyllum~crispatum (accessed 24 January, 2021)
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