Hippuris vulgaris L., Sp. Pl. 4 1753. (syn: Caullinia hippuroides Raf.; Hippuris eschscholtzii Cham. ex Ledeb.; Hippuris fluviatilis Hoffm.; Hippuris generalis E. H. L. Krause; Hippuris maritima Hellen.; Hippuris montana Ledeb. ex Rchb.; Hippuris palustris Gorter ; Hippuris polyphylla Raf.; Hippuris spiralis Dan Yu; Hippuris tetraphylla f. lacunarum Dutilly & Lepage ; Hippuris verticillata Gilib.; Hippuris vulgaris f. lacunarum (Dutilly & Lepage) Lepage ; Hippuris vulgaris var. ramificans D.Yu ; Limnopeuce vulgaris “Vaillant” ex Greene);   
Austria, Belgium, England, Bulgaria, ?Corsica, Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Denmark, Faeroe Isl., Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Switzerland,
Netherlands, Spain, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Montenegro, Serbia & Kosovo,
Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Portugal, Malta, Norway, Poland, Romania,
Spitsbergen, Sweden, Crimea, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, W-, C-, N- &
E-European Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Tibet, Siberia, China, Japan (Hokkaido,
Honshu), Mongolia, Northern Caucasus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia [Caucasus],
Siberia (W-Siberia, C-Siberia), Russian Far East, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Korea (I), Turkey (E-Anatolia, Inner Anatolia,
NE-Anatolia), Iran (EC-Iran, N-Iran, Iranian Aserbaijan), Afghanistan
(Badakshan, Wakhan, Bamyan, Ghazni, Kabul), Myanmar [Burma], Chumbi, Pakistani
Kashmir (Gilgit, Deosai, Astor), J
ammu & Kashmir (Leh, Ladakh, Zanskar,
Kashmir),
Alaska, USA (Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois,
Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, New
Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont,
Washington State, Wisconsin, Wyoming), Canada (Alberta, British Columbia,
Labrador, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Northern
Territories, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Isl., Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon),
Greenland, St. Pierre et Miquelon, Mexico (Baja California Norte), Argentina
(Chubut, Mendoza, Santa Cruz, Tierra del Fuego), Chile (Bio Bio, Los Lagos,
Magallanes)
as per Catalogue of Life;


Hippuris vulgaris (from Greek: ἵπποςhorse and οὐρά — tail), known as mare’s-tail[1] or common mare’s tail, is a common aquatic plant of Eurasia and North America ranging from Greenland to the Tibetan Plateau to Arizona. It prefers non-acidic waters. The species is also sometimes called horsetail, a name which is better reserved to the horsetails of genus Equisetum. These are unrelated to H. vulgaris, although there is some resemblance in appearance.

The common mare’s tail is a creeping, perennial herb, found in shallow waters and mud flats. It roots underwater, but most of its leaves are above the water surface. The leaves occur in whorls of 6-12; those above water are 0.5 to 2.5 cm long and up to 3 mm wide, whereas those under water are thinner and limper, and longer than those above water, especially in deeper streams. The stems are solid and unbranched but often curve, and can be up to 60 cm long. In shallow water they project 20–30 cm out of the water. It grows from stout rhizomes. The flowers are inconspicuous, and not all plants produce them.
Studies of H. vulgaris in the Tibetan Plateau have shown that it is a prolific methane emitter.[2] H. vulgaris’s roots extend into the anoxic zone of wetland soils and create a conduit for methane produced in the anoxic zone to travel to the atmosphere.
In herbal medicine, mare’s tail has a number of uses, chiefly to do with healing wounds, e.g. stopping internal and external bleeding, curing stomach ulcers, and soothing inflammation of the skin. It can also be a troublesome weed, obstructing the flow of water in rivers and ditches.
(from Wikipedia on 25.11.16)

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Fwd: Hippuris vulgaris : 1 post by 1 author. Attachments (11)

I recently identified a set of photos of plants taken in Ladakh by Marie Meister.  They included a charming shot of Hippuris vulgaris L. at Shey.   Family: Plantaginceae previously Hippuridaceae.
Cannot see any entry for this species under either family on your web-site, so am posting both Marie’s shot and images taken by me in a local canal.  Found in the UK in lakes, ponds and slow streams.
One always needs to be cautious using images taken in other parts of the world, as it is possible, should this plant be studied further, that it is subdivided into varieties, subspecies or even species which do not occur in the Himalaya.  ‘Flora of British India’ and thus ‘Flora Simlensis’ are particularly guilty of assuming a plant resembling a species known in the UK, was the same as that they observed in the Himalaya.
Nevertheless, I consider it serves, for the present, a useful purpose to show close-up detail, to encourage greater interest in aquatic plants (one of the delights of a shikara ride in Kashmir is to examine the plant life of the lake especially well away from the touristy parts of Dal Lake, which has a poor flora).  Thus shots can be taken of this plant in Ladakh or Kashmir by others to replace my UK images.
Found in the cool waters of the Northern Hemisphere. Records from Northern Pakistan, Ladakh (near Leh and Padam), common in Kashmir @ 1200-4500m.  Alpine Himalaya, Tibet, W & N. China.  Recorded from Chumbi in sluggish backwater @3660-4420m. But not from Sikkim or Bhutan proper.
Usually aquatic with stout creeping rhizome from which arise leafy shoots. Leaves whorled, linear. Flowers small, greenish in
axils only of emerged leaves. Fruit ovoid, smooth, greenish.


Superb, …


 

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