The water starworts, in the callitriche genus, were originally part of a separate family, callitrichaceae, but have recently moved to the plantaginaceae.
Common name:
Common water starwort
Family:
Scientific name:
Callitriche stagnalis
Main flower color:
Range:
All across the British Isles
Height:
A few cm - leaves are floating, or prostrate
Habitat:
Slow-moving and still water, and margins of lakes, ponds and ditches
Flowers:
Tiny, lacking petals, instead a minute pair of green bracts. Flowers are either staminate, with a white filament and relatively large yellow anther, or pistillate, with a similar-length style and a forked stigma. Flowers form at the leaf bases
Leaves:
Broadly ovate; opposite along the (often submerged) stem, and in a rosette at the top. Leaf surfaces are minutely pitted
Season:
April to October
Rarity:
★★★★★
