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Weeds Archive | Aquatic
Heteranthera reniformis

Kidney leaf mud plantain

Kidney leaf mud plantain is an aquatic plant native to North, Central and South America. It grows well in disturbed shallow freshwater habitats. It was introduced into Australia as a pond pant, with escaped plants colonising freshwater streams ponds and mudflats. Kidney leaf mud plantain (KLMP) is not a declared Noxious Weed in NSW, however declaration is being considered as a Category 1 weed. It is 20-50 cm tall and can form thick colonies which usually emerge 10-30 cm, but can be up to 50 cm, above the water’s surface. The leaves are bright glossy green, kidney shaped (1-4cm long, [...]

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Salvinia molesta

Salvinia

Salvinia is an aquatic fern with most leaves floating on the water surface, forming mat-like growths. Stems are 30 cm long, 1 mm to 2 mm thick, with multiple branches. Length decreases with increasing plant density. Leaves of isolated plants are oval to heart-shaped, flat and as small as 10 mm by 5 mm. The floating leaves are green, non-wettable on the upper surface and have complex waxy hairs about 1 mm long. The submerged modified leaves, which act like roots, are short brown hairy stalks ending in hairy filaments up to 50 cm long which look like wet hair. [...]

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Hymenachne amplexicaulis

Hymenachne

Hymenachne  is a semi-aquatic perennial grass that has become a major weed of wetlands, flood plains and sugar cane crops of northern Australia. Originally introduced to Queensland and the Northern Territory as a ponded pasture species, it has invaded freshwater wetlands, flood plains and river banks. It forms dense infestations, displaces native plant species, reduces biodiversity and threatens native wetland habitat. Native to the tropics of South and Central America, it is a serious weed in Australia, the West Indies, Indonesia, the Florida wetlands of USA and Suriname. Once considered a source of dry season fodder for cattle, it has [...]

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Pistia stratiotes

Water lettuce

Water lettuce is a perennial stoloniferous aquatic herb to 20 cm above water level with feathery roots. Leaves are wedge-shaped, pale green, buoyant towards base, to 15 cm long and to 8 cm wide. Flowers are small and partly concealed at the base of the plant. Flowers occur on a column surrounded by a whitish slit funnel-shaped bract (spathe). A large number of unbranched feathery roots up to 80 cm long are submersed in water beneath the leaves of the plant. Water lettuce is dispersed by seed and vegetatively by daughter plants at the end of stolons. Seeds, seedlings and [...]

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Alligator weed Alternanthera philoxeroides

Alligator weed

  Alligator weed is a perennial, herb. There are different forms of this plant which grow on land and in water. Aquatic forms may be free-floating, or rooted and emergent from the water surface. Stems are hollow. The horizontal stem that produces roots and has shoots that develop into new plants, forming dense interwoven mats. Severe frosts may kill exposed stems. Leaves are without stalks, dark green, smooth, waxy, 2-7 cm long, 5-40 mm wide, in pairs opposite each other on the main stems. Veins from the central rib are visible beneath the waxy leaf surface. Flowers have silvery white [...]

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