Potamogeton lucens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Potamogeton lucens | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Alismatales |
| Family: | Potamogetonaceae |
| Genus: | Potamogeton |
| Species: | P. lucens |
| Binomial name | |
| Potamogeton lucens | |
| Synonyms[3] | |
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Potamogeton lucens, or shining pondweed,[4][2] is an aquatic perennial plant native to Eurasia and North Africa. It grows in relatively deep, still or slow-flowing, calcareous freshwater habitats.
Shining pondweed is a large plant with robust creeping rhizomes and long, terete, branching stems, typically up to 2.5 m but exceptionally to 6 m. The leaves are large, 75–200 mm (exceptionally more) long and 25–65 mm wide, 2–6 times as long as broad;[5] as with the smaller P. gramineus, the leaves on the branches are smaller than those on the main stem. The leaves are pale green or yellowish, translucent, shiny with distinctive netted veining, minutely denticulate margins, and a short petiole of 1–12 mm.[5] Floating leaves are absent.
Flowers appear between June and September.[6] The fruits are 3 mm across.
Like most other broad-leaved pondweeds, Potamogeton lucens is tetraploid, with 2n=52.[7]
Over much of its range, shining pondweed is not likely to be confused with any other species. However, in southern Europe the related and quite similar P. schweinfurthii has recently been discovered.[8][9] P. lucens can usually be distinguished by its relatively broader leaves, 2–6 times as long as they are broad, and most or all of which are petiolate, but some forms are very difficult to distinguish without a detailed comparison of multiple characters.[8]
However, there are hybrids with various other pondweed species including P. gramineus (P. × angustifolius J.Presl.), P. perfoliatus (P. × salicifolius Wolfg.), P. alpinus (P. × nerviger Wolfg.), P. nodosus (P. × subrufus Hagstr.) P. sarmaticus (P. × pseudosarmaticus Papch.), P. crispus (P. × cadburyae Dandy & G.Taylor), P. praelongus (P. × jutlandicus Zalewska-Gał.) and P. natans (P. × fluitans Roth).[5] It hybridises with P. wrightii (P. × inbaensis Kadono) in Japan[10] and China.[11] Some of these hybrids can be quite common, and are not always easy to distinguish from P. lucens.[5]
A triple hybrid, P. gramineus × lucens × perfoliatus (P. × torssandrii (Tiselius) Dörfler), is also known.
Taxonomy
Potamogeton lucens (lucens meaning 'shining') was one of the original species named by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum (1753). Shining pondweed is morphologically quite variable, and as a result has received a bewildering number of synonyms.[citation needed]
DNA analysis indicates that P. lucens is one of the broad-leaved pondweed clade (section Potamogeton) and is probably most closely related to P. gramineus and the North American P. illinoensis.[12]
Distribution
Potamogeton lucens is native to Europe (including Britain, continental Europe, Scandinavia), Asia (Afghanistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan), the Middle East and North Africa.[13] In North America it is replaced by the rather similar P. illinoensis.[citation needed]
Biochemistry
A furanolabdane diterpenoid extracted from P. lucens is algicidal.[14]
Dried and ground shining pondweed has been shown to be effective at binding heavy metals, raising the possibility of using biomass from this plant as a means of treating contaminated sediments.[15][16]
