MatBio: HERBS IN FRESHWATER HABITATS - Matanzas Biodiversity

Aeschynomene americana is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by many common names, including shyleaf,forage aeschynomene,American joint vetch (United States and Australia), thornless mimosa (Sri Lanka), bastard sensitive plant (Jamaica), pega pega, pega ropa, antejuela, ronte, cujicillo, and dormilonga (Latin America). It is native to Central America, parts of South America, the West Indies, and Florida. less ↑

Amaranthus australis is also known as southern amaranth or southern water-hemp. The plant usually grows from 1 to 3 m (3 to 9 feet) in height, though some have been known to grow up to 9 m (27 feet) high. The stems can be up to 30 cm in diameter. It is a herbaceous annual. It is found in many Southern states of the USA, Mexico, the West Indies, and South America. They are frequently found... less ↑

Amianthium is a monotypic genus of perennial plants growing from bulbs. It contains the single species Amianthium muscitoxicum, known in English as fly poison from a literal translation of the Latin muscitoxicum, and is noted for its pretty flowers and its toxic alkaloid content. While all parts of the plant are poisonous, the bulb is particularly toxic. The scientific name was given to it by Thomas Walter when he published his Flora Caroliniana in 1788. The... less ↑

Ammannia coccinea is a species of flowering plant in the loosestrife family known by several common names, including valley redstem, scarlet toothcup, and purple ammannia. It is native to most of the contiguous United States, with the exception of the Pacific Northwest and New England. It is generally found in moist areas, such as riverbanks and pond margins. It is weedy in some areas. This is an annual herb growing erect to heights approaching one meter... less ↑

Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed, rose milkweed, swamp silkweed, and white Indian hemp) is a herbaceous perennial plant species native to North America. It grows in damp to wet soils and also is cultivated as a garden plant for its flowers, which attract butterflies and other pollinators with nectar. Like most other milkweeds, it has sap containing toxic chemicals, a characteristic that repels insects and other herbivorous animals. less ↑

The Fewflower Milkweed, Asclepias lanceolata, is a species of milkweed that is native to the coastal plain of the United States from New Jersey to Florida and Southeast Texas.A. lanceolata is an upright, perennial plant that can grow between 3 and 5 feet tall, with red-orange flowers blooming in the summer months. It can also be referred to as Cedar Hill Milkweed, as it was first described by Dr. Eli Ives in the neighborhood of Cedar... less ↑

Stems to 8 m, terete, glabrous. Petiole 4-12 cm, with apical adaxial gland cluster; leaf blade ovate, 6-20 × 4-15 cm, sparsely appressed pubescent to glabrous, base deeply cordate, apex acute-acuminate; lateral veins 6 or 7 pairs. Peduncle 3.7-13 cm. Pedicel 1.2-4 cm. Sepals ovate-oblong, 3-4 mm, ciliate. Corolla yellowish white; tube 1.2-1.8 cm, limb 3-4 cm in diam.; lobes shorter than tube, oblong, glabrous. Corona lobes white, 1-1.2 cm. Ovaries glabrous. Follicles ca. 16 × 4 cm. Seeds ovate; coma to 4 cm. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Sep-Dec. less ↑

Bacopa monnieri (waterhyssop, brahmi, thyme-leafed gratiola, water hyssop) is a perennial, creeping herb whose habitat includes wetlands and muddy shores. Brahmi is also the name given to Centella asiatica, particularly in North India, and Kerala where it is also identified in Malayalam as muttil (മുത്തിള്‍) or kodakan. This identification of brāhmī as C. asiatica has been in use for long in northern India, as Hēmādri's Commentary on Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayaṃ (Āyuṛvēdarasāyanaṃ) treats maṇḍūkapaṛṇī (C. asiatica) as a synonym of brahmi,... less ↑

Bidens laevis is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family known by the common names bur-marigold and smooth beggarticks. It is native to the southern half of the United States, where it grows in wetlands, including estuaries and riverbanks. It is similar in appearance to its relative Bidens cernua and the two are sometimes confused. This is an annual or perennial herb growing over 20 centimeters tall and sometimes much taller, exceeding one meter... less ↑

Boehmeria cylindrica (L.) Swartz is an herb in the family Urticaceae, common name "false nettle." It is widespread in eastern North America and the Great Plains from New Brunswick to Florida to Texas to Nebraska, with scattered reports of isolated populations in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah as well as in Bermuda, Mexico, Central America, the West Indies and South America. less ↑

Canna flaccida Salisb. is a species of the Canna genus, a member of the family Cannaceae. Indigenous to the wetlands of south-eastern USA. It was a parent to many of the early-hybridised cannas originally known as orchid flowered cannas, but now correctly named as Italian Group cannas. It grows well as a water canna. Originally described by the early American explorer, William Bartram, when he found these plants blooming near the rivers of coastal Georgia. The... less ↑

Cardamine pensylvanica is a species of Cardamine known by the common name Pennsylvania bittercress. It is native to most of Canada and the United States from coast to coast. It is generally found in moist to wet areas, such as the mud on riverbanks. It is a biennial herb producing one or more erect or leaning, branching stems which are purple to green in color and grow 10–70 cm (4–28 in) tall. The leaves are hairless and divided... less ↑

Centella asiatica, commonly known as centella, is a small, herbaceous, annual plant of the family Mackinlayaceae or subfamily Mackinlayoideae of family Apiaceae, and is native to India, Sri Lanka, northern Australia, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Melanesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and other parts of Asia. It is used as a medicinal herb in Ayurvedic medicine, traditional African medicine, and traditional Chinese medicine. It is also known as the Asiatic pennywort or Indian pennywort in English, among various... less ↑

As the common name suggests, this thistle can become quite tall. It resembles Cirsium discolor (Pasture Thistle) and other common thistles, except that its leaves are less pinnatifid and spiny. The native Pasture Thistle prefers habitats that are more dry and sunny, but it is also sometimes found in wooded habitats. An aggressive Eurasian species, Cirsium vulgare (Bull Thistle), also prefers habitats that are more dry and sunny; it is even more heavily armed with spines than the Pasture Thistle. Unlike the Tall Thistle and Pasture Thistle, the Bull Thistle has leaf undersides that are more green because they are less densely hairy. The leaf undersides of the preceding native thistles are bright white because they have dense mats of white-woolly hairs. All of these tall-growing thistles are in bloom at about the same time of year and their erect flowerheads are pink to purplish pink. less ↑

Coreopsis leavenworthii (Leavenworth's Tickseed) is an annual or short lived perennail plant species of the genus Coreopsis in Asteraceae. It is often grouped within Coreopsis tinctoria which it resembles. Plants typically grow 30 to 70 cm tall with yellow flower heads that sometimes have reddish-brown blotches at the base of the ray laminae or petals. The foliage is 1 or 1.5 pinnately to bipinnately compound with entire edges, and elliptic to oblanceolate to linear shaped. less ↑

Diodia virginiana is a plant species in the Rubiaceae, common name Virginia buttonweed. It is a spreading, matted perennial with opposite leaves, often mottled because of a virus that attacks the foliage. Flowers are white, cross-shaped with 4 petals. Fruits are green, often floating on water. The species can become a nuisance weed, hard to eradicate because of underground parts that remain behind when you try to pull up the plant. less ↑

Drosera capillaris, the pink or spathulate-leaved sundew (not to be confused with Drosera spatulata), is a small carnivorous plant of the family Droseraceae in the genus Drosera. They are frequently found in wet pine flatwoods and bogs of the southeastern United States, ranging from eastern Texas east to Florida and north to Virginia, as well as in some areas of the Caribbean. They thrive in moist, acidic soil. less ↑

Eriocaulon decangulare, commonly known as ten-angled pipewort, hat pin and bog button, is a monocotyledonous plant native to the eastern United States, Mexico and Nicaragua. The plant's distribution is quite irregular, with several disjunct populations and a discontinuous primary range. Most of its habitat in the United States runs along the Atlantic Coastal Plain, but some populations also occur in more mountainous regions. It is found in areas of relatively low elevation and the plant does... less ↑

Eupatorium capillifolium (dogfennel) is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Asteraceae, native to southeastern North America. It is generally between 50 cm and 2 meters tall with several stems that fork from a substantial base. The stems and base are covered in leaves so dissected that they resemble green hairs coming out of the stem in fractal patterns. When crushed, the leaves and flowers smell rather unpleasant. less ↑

Eupatorium leptophyllum, commonly called False fennel, is a herbaceous perennial plant in Asteraceae native to the southeastern United States. Like other members of the genus Eupatorium, it is about one to two meters tall and has inflorescences containing a large number of white flowers with disc florets and no ray florets.E. leptophyllum grows in wet areas and can grow in shallow water. less ↑

Eupatorium mohrii, commonly called Mohr's thoroughwort, is a herbaceous perennial plant in Asteraceae native to the southeastern coastal states of the United States, from North Carolina to Florida and Louisiana to Texas. It can also be found in the Caribbean. The stems grow from 30 to over 100 cm tall and are produced from tuberous rhizomes. As with other species of Eupatorium, the inflorescences contain a large number of white flower heads with disc florets and no... less ↑

Eupatorium rotundifolium, commonly called Roundleaf thoroughwort, is a herbaceous perennial plant in Asteraceae native to the eastern states of the United States in an area from New Jersey to Oklahoma south to Texas to Florida. The stems grow from 40 to over 100 cm tall and are produced from short rhizomes. The inflorescences are composed of a large number of white flower heads with disc florets and no ray florets. Plants can be highly variable due to... less ↑

Eupatorium semiserratum, commonly called Smallflower thoroughwort, is a herbaceous perennial plant in Asteraceae native to the Southeastern states of the United States from Florida to South Carolina east to Missouri. The stems grow from 40 to over 100 cm tall and are produced from short rhizomes. The inflorescences are composed of a large number of white flowers with disc florets and no ray florets. This species is similar to Eupatorium linearifolium but has smaller heads of flowers... less ↑

Hydrocotyle umbellata, is an aquatic plant that thrives in wet, sandy habitat. Its English common name is manyflower marsh pennywort or dollarweed. It is native to North America and parts of South America. It can also be found growing as an introduced species and sometimes a noxious weed on other continents. It is an edible weed that can be used in salads or as a pot herb. less ↑

Hypericum mutilum is a species of St. John's wort known by the common name dwarf St. John's wort. It is native to parts of North America, and is present in other parts as an introduced species. It is an annual or perennial herb taking a multibranched erect form up to about 60 centimeters tall. The oval green leaves are one or two centimeters long and are covered in tiny glands. The inflorescence is a compound cyme... less ↑

Hyptis alata (Musky Mint, or Clustered Bushmint) is a shrub species of flowering plant in the Lamiaceae family, the Mint Family. The genus Hyptis is commonly known as the bushmints. It is a native species throughout the southeastern United States from Texas to Florida; it is found in wetlands, prairies, pond margins and wet flatwoods. Hyptis alata is the southeastern United States analog to the Southwestern deserts H. emoryi, the Desert Lavender. less ↑

Juncus acuminatus is a species of rush known by the common names Tapertip Rush, Tufted Rush and Sharp-fruited Rush. It is native to North and Central America, where it can be found in and around water bodies from central Canada to Honduras. It is a rhizomatous perennial herb forming clumps up to about 80 centimeters tall. The inflorescence is an open array of many clusters of up to 20 flowers each. The flower has pointed segments... less ↑