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Montana Field Guide

Montana Field Guides

Common Hornwort - Ceratophyllum demersum
Other Names:  Rigid Coontail

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Native Species

Global Rank: G5
State Rank: S5
C-value: 4


Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:


 

External Links

 
General Description
Aquatic, perennial, monoecious herbs without roots. Stems flaccid, floating, up to 3 m. Leaves 3 to 11 per node, 7–30 mm long, forked into few linear, apiculate-toothed segments. Flowers unisexual, solitary in leaf axils; petals and sepals absent; involucre of 8 to 15 simple or forked, linear segments; stamens 3 to 50; pistil solitary. Fruit a 1-seeded achene, 4–6 mm long, narrowly elliptic and compressed with 1 terminal and two basal spines, shorter to much longer than the body (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Species Range
Montana Range Range Descriptions

Native
 


Range Comments
Cosmopolitan, absent from the northernmost parts of North America (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 2832

(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version) Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density

Recency

 

(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)



Habitat
Shallow to deep, fresh or brackish water of lakes, ponds, slow streams; plains, valleys (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

References
  • Literature Cited AboveLegend:   View Online Publication
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
  • Additional ReferencesLegend:   View Online Publication
    Do you know of a citation we're missing?
    • Craig, V.E. 1952. A story of fish production as it applies to Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 92 p.
    • Garrett, P.A. 1983. Relationships between benthic communities, land use, chemical dynamics, and trophic state in Georgetown Lake. Ph.D. Dissertation. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 136 p.
    • Jeanes, E.D. 1996. Behavioral responses to water current of age-0 Arctic Grayling from the Madison River, and their use of stream habitat. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 60p.
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, Second Edition. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 779 p.
    • Mathews, S.L. 1995. Evolution of the phytochrome gene family in land plants and its utility for phylogenetic analyses of flowering plants. Ph.D. Dissertation. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 85 p.
  • Web Search Engines for Articles on "Common Hornwort"
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Citation for data on this website:
Common Hornwort — Ceratophyllum demersum.  Montana Field Guide.  .  Retrieved on , from