Ruppia maritima L.

General Description

Rhizomes very slender to slender. Stems up to 0.4 m, very slender, terete, sparingly to richly branched; nodal glands absent. Submerged leaves (20-)35-115 x 0.35-0.9 mm, 50-210 times as long as wide, bright green, filiform, elliptical in cross-selection, sessile, acute at the apex, the margin denticulate at the apex, otherwise entire and plane; midrib bordered on each side by an air channel, lateral veins absent. Floating leaves absent. Leaf sheaths 5-22 mm, open and convolute, the side from which the leaf arises green, the opposite side hyaline; ligule absent; sheaths of involucral leaves slightly dilated, hyaline when young, becoming brown with age. Turions absent. Inflorescences with 2 flowers c. 1.5 mm apart; peduncles (8-)12-26 mm, 0.5-1.8 times as long as the longest carpel stalk when the fruit is mature, rarely as much as 3.3 times as long in dwarf forms, very slender, terete, straight, slightly recurved, arcuate-recurved or coiled with a single turn. Flowers with 3-5 carpels, the carpels initially with a very short stalk so that they appear sessile at anthesis, the stalk elongating after fertilisation, the stalks of mature fruits 3-35 mm (the longest on each peduncle being (3-)10-35 mm), very slender, terete, straight. Fruits 2.0-2.8 x 1.3-1.8 mm, pyriform, asymmetrical about the longitudinal axis, dark brown, with slightly raised more or less elongated wine-red tubercles on the surface; beak 0.4-0.65 mm, apical, straight.

D
77

Slender aquatic with thin horizontal rhizomes rooting in the mud. Stems 10-50 cm. (or more) long and 0.2-0.8 mm. thick (but thicker across the leaf-sheaths, green, slender, filiform, much-branched. Leaves numerous, set all along the plant, usually alternate below, often opposite above; sheath light to medium reddish brown, 5-20 mm. long and 0.7-1.5 mm. wide, somewhat inflated, with a minute or up to 2 mm. long tooth on each side of its orifice; blade 2-15 cm. long and 0.2-0.9 mm. wide, linear-filiform with many small teeth along margin near the acute tip. Peduncles only 5-10 mm. long and 0.2-0.5 mm. thick when flowers open, but occasionally elongating to 6 cm. (rarely more than 2 cm.) after anthesis, straight or more commonly recurved in fruit, but not spirally coiled. Anthers elliptic, 0.5-1 mm. long. Ovaries usually 4, 1-1.5 mm. long, narrowly ovoid with a short stipitate base, which elongates at maturity. Fruits obliquely ovoid with a prominent beak, 2-3 mm. long (excluding stalk) and 1.5-2 mm. wide, medium to dark reddish brown or almost black; stipe 5-10(-30) mm. long and 0.2-0.4 mm. thick, triangular, light reddish brown to dark brown.

A

Submerged, green or brownish, grass-like aquatic perennial with slender, cylindrical, branched stems. Leaves linear to filiform, gradually narrowed to a fine point. Flowers in a small spike on short, slender, straight peduncles.

C

Ecology

Ruppia maritima grows in a wide variety of shallow coastal waters, including lakes and ditches, rocky cliff-top pools, creeks and pools in saltmarshes, slowly-flowing streams and tidal estuaries. It is found all round the coasts of Britain and Ireland, and also occurs in brackish water by inland salt deposits near Nantwich and Sandbach in Cheshire (Lee 1977). It is tolerant of a wide range of salinity, growing both in coastal streams which at times are virtually fresh and in ponds which are "brackish, muddy, often slimy and stagnant" (Scott & Palmer 1987). Associated species are usually few, but may include Potamogeton pectinatus and Zannichellia palustris. R. maritima also grows on the muddy flats of saltmarshes, often with Zostera noltii. Stratigraphic evidence suggests that in Poole Harbour such mudflat communities disappeared after Spartina invasion (Hubbard & Stebbings 1968).

D
77

Habitat

In pools, springs or ephemeral rivers of low salinity.

C

HAB. Submerged in alkaline lakes (salt-lakes); 160-800 m.; in other countries even in shallow brackish sea-water

A

Distribution

Tanzania 1 km. SW. of Lake Lutamba, Lake Nampawara, 2 Nov. 1977, Wingfield 4427!

A

Namibian coast, Gariep Mouth, Spoegrivier, Lambert’s Bay to Port Elizabeth, cosmopolitan.

C

Tanzania Ivuna saltpans near S. end of Lake Rukwa, Nov. 1969, Wingfield 545B! & 1 May 1970, R.A Nicholson 165!

A

Literature

Sp. PL: 127 (1753); P. Graebner in E.P. IV. 11:142 (1907); Obermeyer in F.S.A. 1:71, fig. 20/1 (1966); Podlech in Prodr. Fl. SW.-Afr. 144:4 (1966); F.W.T.A, ed. 2, 3: 18, fig. 323 (1968); F.AC., Ruppiac: 2, t. 1 (1977); Fl. Mascareignes 199:1, fig. (1984).

A

Distribution Map

Native distribution

Found in

Africa East Tropical Africa Tanzania
Macaronesia Azores
Canary Is.
Cape Verde
Madeira
Northeast Tropical Africa Eritrea
Socotra
Sudan
Northern Africa Algeria
Egypt
Libya
Morocco
Tunisia
South Tropical Africa Angola
Southern Africa Cape Provinces
Free State
KwaZulu-Natal
Namibia
West Tropical Africa Ghana
Mauritania
Nigeria
Senegal
West-Central Tropical Africa Equatorial Guinea
Zaire
Western Indian Ocean Aldabra
Madagascar
Mauritius
Rodrigues
Réunion
Asia-Temperate Arabian Peninsula Gulf States
Oman
Saudi Arabia
Yemen
Caucasus North Caucasus
Transcaucasus
China China North-Central
China Southeast
Hainan
Manchuria
Qinghai
Xinjiang
Eastern Asia Japan
Korea
Nansei-shoto
Ogasawara-shoto
Taiwan
Middle Asia Kazakhstan
Tadzhikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Russian Far East Magadan
Primorye
Sakhalin
Siberia Altay
Chita
Krasnoyarsk
Western Asia Cyprus
East Aegean Is.
Iran
Iraq
Lebanon-Syria
Palestine
Sinai
Turkey
Asia-Tropical Indian Subcontinent Assam
Bangladesh
India
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
West Himalaya
Indo-China Myanmar
South China Sea
Thailand
Vietnam
Malesia Malaya
Philippines
Australasia Australia New South Wales
Northern Territory
Queensland
South Australia
Victoria
Western Australia
Europe Eastern Europe Baltic States
Belarus
Central European Russia
East European Russia
Krym
North European Russia
Northwest European Russia
South European Russia
Ukraine
Middle Europe Belgium
Czechoslovakia (Doubtful)
Germany
Netherlands
Poland
Northern Europe Denmark
Finland
Føroyar
Great Britain
Iceland
Ireland
Norway
Sweden
Southeastern Europe Bulgaria
Greece
Italy
Kriti
Romania
Sicilia
Turkey-in-Europe
Yugoslavia
Southwestern Europe Baleares
Corse
France
Portugal
Sardegna
Spain
Northern America Eastern Canada New Brunswick
Newfoundland
Nova Scotia
Ontario
Prince Edward I.
Québec
Mexico Mexico Central
Mexico Gulf
Mexico Northeast
Mexico Northwest
Mexico Southeast
Mexico Southwest
Northeastern U.S.A. Connecticut
Maine
Masachusettes
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
Rhode I.
Northwestern U.S.A. Oregon
Washington
South-Central U.S.A. Texas
Southeastern U.S.A. Alabama
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Louisiana
Maryland
Mississippi
North Carolina
South Carolina
Virginia
Southwestern U.S.A. California
Subarctic America Alaska
Western Canada British Columbia
Saskatchewan
Pacific North-Central Pacific Hawaii
Northwestern Pacific Marianas
Southwestern Pacific Fiji
Gilbert Is.
New Caledonia
Phoenix Is.
Tonga
Southern America Brazil Brazil Northeast
Brazil South
Brazil Southeast
Caribbean Aruba
Bahamas
Bermuda
Cayman Is.
Cuba
Haiti
Jamaica
Leeward Is.
Netherlands Antilles
Puerto Rico
Trinidad-Tobago
Turks-Caicos Is.
Venezuelan Antilles
Windward Is.
Central America Belize
Central American Pacific Is.
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Guatemala
Honduras
Nicaragua
Panamá
Northern South America French Guiana
Guyana
Suriname
Venezuela
Southern South America Argentina Northeast
Argentina Northwest
Chile Central
Paraguay
Western South America Ecuador
Galápagos
Peru

E
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
2
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
3
30
31
32
33
34
36
37
38
39
4
40
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
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68
69
7
70
71
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75
9

Synonyms

E

Common Names

Name	Language
beaked tasselweed		B

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Information From

Flora of Tropical East Africa

http://apps.kew.org/efloras/

Flora of Tropical East Africa. Published on the Internet; http://apps.kew.org/efloras/

A

Strelitzia 30

http://www.sanbi.org/biodiversity-science/science-policyaction/biodiversity-information-management/sanbi-publishing

Strelitzia 30: Plants of the Greater Cape Floristic Region volume 2: The Extra Cape Flora. Edited by D.A. Snijman (2013)

C

WCS higher taxonomy

World Checklist of Selected Plant Families

http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/

WCSP 2014. 'World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/ Retrieved 2011 onwards

E See http://kew.org/about-kew/website-information/legal-notices/index.htm You may use data on these Terms and Conditions and on further condition that: The data is not used for commercial purposes; You may copy and retain data solely for scholarly, educational or research purposes; You may not publish our data, except for small extracts provided for illustrative purposes and duly acknowledged; You acknowledge the source of the data by the words "With the permission of the Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew" in a position which is reasonably prominent in view of your use of the data; Any other use of data or any other content from this website may only be made with our prior written agreement.

Habitat	Temperate Mixed Forest	E
Life Form	Hydrocham.	E
IUCN Red List Status
Sampled Red List Index