Common name: Prickly Water-nymph, Prickly Waternymph, Prickly Naiad
Najas marina L. APNI* Description: Submerged aquatic dioecious annual to 3 m high.
Leaves to 5 cm long and 5 mm wide with numerous large spine-tipped teeth along the margins; surfaces (especially the midrib) and/or internodes may have similar teeth; sheathing base without auricles.
Flowers unisexual, axillary, solitary. Male flowers spatheate, 3–4 mm long, with the single stamen 1–3 mm long and 4-sporangiate. Female flowers without a spathe, 3–4 mm long, mostly with 3 stigmas.
Seed mostly 3–6 mm long, covered with irregularly arranged pits.
Flowering: Flowers during warmer months, the whole plant becoming detached when mature and drifting around dropping seeds.
Distribution and occurrence: Grows in lakes with fresh or brackish water, coastal sites and inland near Griffith.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, SWP
Other Australian states: Vic. N.T. W.A.
Text by S. W. L. Jacobs
Taxon concept:
| | Key to the subspecies | |
| 1 | Stems and midrib on lower surface of leaves with fewer than 1 spine per cm | subsp. latior |
| Stems and midrib on lower surface of leaves with >1 spine per cm | subsp. armata |
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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