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Proserpinaca palustris - (image 1 of 3)

Taxonomy

Family: Haloragaceae

Habitat

Swamps, marshes, fens, shores, shallow water.

Associates

Distribution

Quebec and Nova Scotia to western Ontario and MN, south to Cuba and Guatemala.

Morphology

Herbaceous perennial; stems decumbent and prostrate or rooting at the base, often colonial, the flowering branches erect, 10-40 cm; submersed leaves, if present, 2-4 cm, ovate or broadly oblong, deeply pinnatisect into narrow segments; emersed leaves linear-oblong to linear-oblanceolate, 2-6(-8) cm, serrate, tapering to the base; fruit ovoid-pyramidal, 2-5 mm long and wide.

Notes

Flowers July to August

Wetland indicator: OBL

Proserpinaca pectinata is similar but with the emersed leaves more deeply pinnatisect rather than merely dentate or serrate. Plants on the coastal plain from Nova Scotia to VA with shallowly pectinate-pinnatifid emersed leaves have been called P. intermedia Mack. and may be a hybrid of the other two species.

References

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.

The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY

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