General: Perennial, aquatic herb from fibrous roots, rooting at the nodes; stems 30-50 cm long.
Leaves: Stem leaves threadlike, alternate, 6-12 cm long, 0.2-0.5 mm wide, the tips more or less rounded; stipules membranous, 0.5-2 (7) cm long, fused with the leaves.
Flowers: Inflorescence on spirally coiled, axillary stalks, the coils 0-3 (4) or lacking, the stalks 3-10 cm long; petals lacking; stamens 2.
Fruits: Nut-like, egg-shaped, 1.8-2 mm long; beaks terminal, slightly recurved, 0.6-1 mm long.
Notes: This is a highly variable species, especially with respect to fruit characteristics. Treatments range from the recognition of only one variable species (including R. occidentalis, e.g., Hitchcock and Cronquist 1973, Dandy 1980) to the recognition of eight or nine varieties (e.g., Scoggan 1978, Brayshaw 1985).
Tidal marshes and brackish ponds, lakes and ditches in the lowland zone; common along the coast; circumpolar, N to AK, disjunctly E to NF and S to ME, MA, PA, NC, FL, TX, ID and CA; Eurasia, S America.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
BC Ministry of Environment:BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer,
the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.
Synonyms and Alternate Names
Ruppia maritima var. brevirostris J. Agardh Ruppia maritima var. exigua Fernald & Wiegand Ruppia maritima var. intermedia (Thed.) Asch. & Graebn. Ruppia maritima var. longipes Hagstr. Ruppia maritima var. maritima Ruppia maritima var. obliqua (Schur) Asch. & Graebn. Ruppia maritima var. pacifica H. St. John & Fosberg Ruppia maritima var. rostrata J. Agardh Ruppia maritima var. subcapitata Fernald & Wiegand Ruppia pectinata Rydb.
