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 An
Illustrated Guide to
Common Weeds
of New Zealand
Myriophyllum
aquaticum
parrot's
feather
Family
HALORAGACEAE
Reproduced from
Common
Weeds of New Zealand
by Ian Popay, Paul Champion & Trevor James
ISBN 0 473 09760 5
by kind permission of the
New
Zealand Plant Protection Society
Publication or other use of images or descriptive
text on these pages is unauthorised unless written permission is
obtained from the authors and publisher.
Appropriate acknowledgement
of the publication Common Weeds of New Zealand must always
be given.
Available from Nationwide Book Distributors
Bottom-rooted,
aquatic perennial, with stems emerging above the water surface.
Leaves feather-like, finely divided. Forms dense mats floating on
the surface, or on damp ground. Occurs in shallow, still or slow-moving
freshwater less than 2.5 m deep.
- Flowers Minute,
without petals. Broadly-triangular white sepals 0.5 x 0.3 mm enclose
the four-ribbed ovary. Female flowers solitary in the axils of
aerial leaves. Male flowers (on different plants from the female
flowers) not seen in NZ. Flowers Sep-Feb.
- Fruit Not
set in NZ.
- Leaves Pale
bluish-green, up to 45 mm long by 15 mm wide, in whorls of five
or six. Finely-divided into 25-30 awl-shaped leaflets, each up
to 7 mm long.
- Stems Bluish-green,
up to 5 mm in diameter. Up to 2 m long, emerging up to 10 cm above
the surface. Submerged parts bare, with constricted nodes.
- Roots Appearing
at the lower stem nodes.
Habitat
Shallow freshwater
of peaty or organically rich swamps and drains, lake margins and
slow-moving water.
Distribution
Locally common in scattered
NI localities in Auckland, Waikato, Wairarapa and southern Manawatu.
Originally from South America.
Comments
Listed on the National
Pest Plant Accord (see Introduction for details).
Derivation
of botanical name
Myriophyllum (Gr.)
= many leaves, referring to the finely divided leaves; aquaticum
(Lat.) = growing in water.
Web-notes:
Weed Links
On this site
Reproduced from Common Weeds
of New Zealand:
External Links
 Weedbusters
New Zealand
- Weedbusters is a weeds awareness and education programme that aims to
protect New Zealand's environment from the increasing weed problem.
- AgPest
- A free tool to assist farmers and agricultural professionals in decision-making regarding weed and pest identification, biology, impact and management.
 New Zealand Weeds Key
- An interactive identification key to the weeds of New Zealand. Developed at Landcare Research.
New
Zealand Plant Conservation Network naturalised plants
- Search for information on more than 2500 naturalised and weedy plants.
 New
Zealand Plant Protection Society
- Their main objective: "To pool and exchange information on the biology
of weeds, invertebrate and vertebrate pests, pathogens and beneficial organisms
and methods for modifying their effects."
-
 Massey
University Weeds Database- A site providing information about New Zealand weeds and weed control.
It has a series of pages showing pictures of New Zealand weeds, notes on
identification and control. It also provides information on a university
paper entitled Controlling Weeds.
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