Callitriche palustris


Callitriche palustris, the vernal water-starwort, narrow-fruited water-starwort, or spiny water starwort, is a species of aquatic plants. It is the type species of its genus.
It is native to temperate and subtropical North America and Eurasia, as well as Sumatra and Borneo.

Taxonomy

Callitriche palustris was given its scientific name in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus. It is classifed in the genus Callitriche within the wider family Plantaginaceae.

Subspecies and varieties

There is one subspecies and five accepted varieties.
  • Callitriche palustris var. elegans – southeastern and northeastern China, Japan, Sakhalin, and East European Russia. It was classified as a variety in 1977 by Yui Liang Chang.
  • Callitriche palustris var. megalata – Russian Far East. It was described in 2006 by Richard V. Lansdown.
  • Callitriche palustris var. oryzetorum – southern China, Taiwan, Japan, and western Himalayas. It was changed to a variety in 2006 by Lansdown.
  • Callitriche palustris subsp. palustris – North America and temperate Eurasia
  • Callitriche palustris var. strumosa – Borneo and Sumatra. It was also described in 2006 by Lansdown.
  • Callitriche palustris subsp. subanceps – eastern Siberia and Russian Far East. Like the varieties, it was reduced to a subspecies in 2006, but by Vladimir Borisovich Kuvaev.
There are 89 synonyms of the species or three of its varieties and the accepted subspecies, of them are species names.