Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Myriophyllum variifolium
Common name
Varied Water-milfoil
Family
Haloragaceae
Where found
In still or slowly flowing water. Widespread.
Notes
Perennial herb, rooting at the nodes in shallow water. Stems to 0.5 m long, to 5 mm in diameter. Emergent leaves in whorls of 5, mostly 0.8–1.5 cm long, to 1 mm wide, entire, or the margins of the lowermost leaves with a few teeth. Submerged leaves in whorls of 4 or 5, mostly 1.1–2 cm long, with 9–15 well-spaced narrow segments like the teeth of a comb. Male and female flowers on the same plant, usually male and female on the same stem, rarely all female on a stem. Male flowers with 4 yellow to reddish hooded petals each 2–3.5 mm long. Female flowers with 0 sepals, 0 petals, stigmas white. Flowers single at the base of whorled leaves.
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~variifolium (accessed 24 January, 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
