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- Aquatic plants
- Water plants with leaves and stems
- Ruppia maritima
Ruppia maritima — beaked ditch-grass, widgeongrass
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New England distribution
Adapted from BONAP data
Native: indigenous.
Non-native: introduced (intentionally or unintentionally); has become naturalized.
County documented: documented to exist in the county by evidence (herbarium specimen, photograph). Also covers those considered historical (not seen in 20 years).
State documented: documented to exist in the state, but not documented to a county within the state. Also covers those considered historical (not seen in 20 years).
Note: when native and non-native populations both exist in a county, only native status is shown on the map.
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Facts
Beaked ditch-grass can tolerate a wide range of salinities, from brackish water to sea-water. It is highly nutritous and an important food plant for waterfowl.
Habitat
Lacustrine (in lakes or ponds), intertidal, subtidal or open ocean, riverine (in rivers or streams)
Characteristics
- Habitat
-
- aquatic
- wetlands
- New England state
-
- Connecticut
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- Rhode Island
- Leaf position
- the leaves are all submerged underwater
- Leaf arrangement
- alternate: there is one leaf per node along the stem
- Leaf blade length
- 60–105 mm
- Petal or sepal number
- there are no petals, sepals, or tepals in the flower, or they are not clearly present
- Petal color
- NA
- Specific leaf type
- the leaf is not divided, rather the blade is made up of one segment
- Floating leaf shape
- NA
- Underwater leaf blade width
- 0.3–0.5 mm
- Fruit type (general)
- the fruit is fleshy
- Underwater leaf length
- 60–105 mm
-
Clonal plantlets
- Turion length
- 0 mm
-
Flowers
- Anther color
- there is a noticeable pink, reddish or purplish tint to the anthers
- Carpels fused
- the carpel is solitary or (if 2 or more) the carpels are not fused to one another
- Flower lower lip length
- 0 mm
- Flower number
- 2–20
- Flower position
- the flowers are below the surface of the water
- Flower symmetry
- NA
- Inflorescence type
- the inflorescence is a spike (a long unbranched stem with flowers along it that lack stalks)
- Length of peduncle
- 0.5–16.5 mm
- Nectar spur
- the flower has no nectar spurs
- Number of carpels
- 4
- Ovary position
- NA
- Palate on corolla
- NA
- Petal and sepal arrangement
- the flower includes neither petals nor sepals
- Petal appearance
- NA
- Petal color
- NA
- Petal fringed edges
- NA
- Petal fusion
- NA
- Petal hairs on inner/upper surface
- NA
- Petal length
- 0 mm
- Petal number
- 0
- Petal or sepal number
- there are no petals, sepals, or tepals in the flower, or they are not clearly present
- Pistil number
-
- 4
- 5
- 6 or more
- Sepal appearance
- NA
- Sepal length
- 0 mm
- Sepal number
- 0
- Sepals fused only to sepals
- NA
- Spur length
- 0 mm
- Stamen number
- 1 or 2
- Stamen position relative to petals
- NA
- Stamens fused
- the stamens are not fused to one another
- Stamens fused to petals
-
- NA
- the stamens are not fused to the petals or tepals
- Style number
- 4–8
-
Fruits or seeds
- Fruit beak length
- 0.6–1 mm
- Fruit length
- 1.8–2 mm
- Fruit type (general)
- the fruit is fleshy
- Fruit type (specific)
- the fruit is a drupe (fleshy, with a firm inner ovary wall that encloses a single seed)
- Fruit width
- 0.7–1.5 mm
-
Glands or sap
- Oil glands on nodes
- none of the nodes have oil glands
- Sap
- the sap is clear and watery
-
Growth form
- Lifespan
- the plant lives more than two years
- Root septa
- the roots do not have transverse septa
- Roots floating in water
- there are no clusters of roots floating in the water
- Turions
- there are no turions on the plant
- Underground organs
- there are only slender roots on the plant
-
Leaves
- Bract position (Sparganium)
- NA
- Bract relative length
- At least 3854 mm
- Bracts
- neither the flowers nor their pedicels have bracts
- Floating leaf basal lobes
- NA
- Floating leaf blade width
- 0 mm
- Floating leaf length
- 0 mm
- Floating leaf shape
- NA
- Floating leaf tip
- NA
- Floral bract form
- NA
- Floral bract length
- 0 mm
- Leaf arrangement
- alternate: there is one leaf per node along the stem
- Leaf blade length
- 60–105 mm
- Leaf blade veins
- the lateral veins radiate from the base and continue to spread away from the centerline of the leaf, or branch off the central vein at intervals
- Leaf blade width
- 0.3–0.5 mm
- Leaf position
- the leaves are all submerged underwater
- Leaf special features
- none of the mentioned special features are present
- Leaf-like branch segments
- 0
- Leaf-like branch shape
- NA
- Specific leaf type
- the leaf is not divided, rather the blade is made up of one segment
- Staminate bract edge (Myriophyllum)
- NA
- Stipule appearance
- the stipules are delicate and translucent
- Stipule fused to leaf
- the stipules are attached to the leaf blade for some part of their length
- Stipules
- the plant has stipules
- Stipules fused around stem
- the stipules do not forma closed tube around the stem
- Trap-bladder length
- 0 mm
- Underwater leaf blade edges
- the underwater leaf blade edges are toothed
- Underwater leaf blade shape
- the underwater leaf blade is linear (very narrow with more or less parallel sides)
- Underwater leaf blade veins
- 1
- Underwater leaf blade width
- 0.3–0.5 mm
- Underwater leaf length
- 60–105 mm
- Underwater leaf stalk
- no
- Underwater leaf stalk length
- 0 mm
- Underwater leaf tip shape
- the tip of the underwater leaf is obtuse (bluntly pointed)
- Veins in floating leaf
- 0
-
Place
- Habitat
-
- aquatic
- wetlands
- New England state
-
- Connecticut
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- Rhode Island
- Specific habitat
-
- in lakes or ponds
- in rivers or streams
- intertidal, subtidal or open ocean
-
Stem, shoot, branch
- Flowering stem growth form
- the flowering stem trails along the substrate, or floats in the water
Wetland status
Occurs only in wetlands. (Wetland indicator code: OBL)
New England distribution and conservation status
Distribution
- Connecticut
- present
- Maine
- present
- Massachusetts
- present
- New Hampshire
- present
- Rhode Island
- present
- Vermont
- absent
Conservation status
Exact status definitions can vary from state to state. For details, please check with your state.
- Maine
- unranked (S-rank: SNR)
- Massachusetts
- fairly widespread (S-rank: S4S5)
Native to North America?
Yes
Sometimes confused with
- Zannichellia palustris:
- leaves opposite, mature fruits borne on stalks 0.3-1.2 mm long, and stigma funnelform (vs. R. maritima, with leaves alternate to subopposite, mature fruits borne on stalks 12-19 mm long, and stigma capitate).
Synonyms
- Ruppia maritima var. longipes Hagstr.
- Ruppia maritima var. obliqua (Schur) Aschers. & Graebn.
- Ruppia maritima var. rostrata Agardh
- Ruppia maritima var. subcapitata Fern. & Wieg.
Family
Genus
From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae
1. Ruppia maritima L. N
beaked ditch-grass. Ruppia maritima L. var. longipes Hagstr.; R. maritima L. var. obliqua (Schur) Aschers. & Graebn.; R. maritima L. var. rostrata Agardh; R. maritima L. var. subcapitata Fern. & Wieg. • CT, MA, ME, NH, RI; also reported from VT by Magee and Ahles (1999), but specimens are unknown. Saline to brackish waters and pools.