Order CeratophyllalesLink Scientific name Ceratophyllum Rank Genus | Clade Angiosperms Family CeratophyllaceaeGray Higher classification Hornwort | |
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Lower classifications Ceratophyllum demersum, Ceratophyllum submersum | ||
Coontail ceratophyllum demersum aquatic plant growth time lapse hornwort
Ceratophyllum is a cosmopolitan genus of flowering plants including four accepted species in 2016, commonly found in ponds, marshes, and quiet streams in tropical and in temperate regions. It is the only genus in the family Ceratophyllaceae, itself the only genus in the order Ceratophyllales. They are usually called coontails or hornworts, although hornwort is also used for unrelated plants of the division Anthocerotophyta.
Contents
Ceratophyllum grows completely submerged, usually, though not always, floating on the surface, and does not tolerate drought. The plant stems can reach 1–3 m in length. At intervals along nodes of the stem they produce rings of bright green leaves, which are narrow and often much-branched. The forked leaves are brittle and stiff to the touch in some species, softer in others. The plants have no roots at all, but sometimes they develop modified leaves with a rootlike appearance, which anchor the plant to the bottom. The flowers are small and inconspicuous, with the male and female flowers on the same plant. In ponds it forms thick buds (turions) in the autumn that sink to the bottom which give the impression that it has been killed by the frost but come spring these will grow back into the long stems slowly filling up the pond.
Hornwort plants float in great numbers just under the surface. They offer excellent protection to fish-spawn, but also to snails that are infected with Bilharzia. Because of their appearance and their high oxygen production, they are often used in freshwater aquaria.
Taxonomy
Ceratophyllum is considered distinctive enough to warrant its own family, Ceratophyllaceae. It was considered a relative of Nymphaeaceae and included in Nymphaeales in the Cronquist system, but recent research has shown that it is not closely related to Nymphaeaceae or any other extant plant family. Some early molecular phylogenies suggested it was the sister group to all other angiosperms, but more recent research suggests that it is the sister group to the eudicots. The APG III system placed the family in its own order, the Ceratophyllales. The APG IV system accepts the phylogeny shown below:
Species
The division of the genus into species is not completely settled. More than 30 species have been described, but many are probably just variants of these more widely accepted species:
- Ceratophyllum demersum L. (rigid hornwort or common hornwort) - cosmopolitan
- Ceratophyllum muricatum Cham. (prickly hornwort) - widespread in many places though not all countries
- Ceratophyllum platyacanthum Cham. - Scattered locations in Germany, Hungary, France, Russia, China, Japan, Korea
- Ceratophyllum submersum L. (soft hornwort or tropical hornwort) - Europe, Central Asia, northern Africa, scattered places in tropical Africa, Turkey, Oman, Florida, Dominican Republic
Of these, Ceratophyllum demersum is widespread, with a global distribution; the others all have more restricted ranges.