Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Hydrilla verticillata
Common name
Hydrilla, Water Thyme, Florida Elodea
Family
Hydrocharitaceae
Where found
Aquatic. Sydney area and north, the lower Blue Mountains, and along the Murray River.
Notes
Submerged perennial herb with stems to 8 m long, attached to the substrate, usually forming a canopy immediately below the water surface. Leaves in whorls of 3–8, 0.6–4 cm long, to 5 mm wide, hairless, green, often with red-brown markings, 1-veined; margins coarsely toothed with fine translucent teeth; tips blunt to rounded with the midvein extended into a fine tooth. Male and female flowers on different plants. Flowers translucent, with 3 'petals' each 1–3 mm long. Male flower single, released as a globular, mature unopened bud and opening as a free-floating flower on the water surface. Female flowers 1.5–10 cm long, mostly single, sometimes 2 together. Flowering: during warmer months.
Rare Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Hydrilla~verticillata (accessed 19 January, 2021)
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