Mare's-tail - Hippuris vulgaris

Description

A stiff, erect plant with a creeping, far reaching rhizome. Leaves in close whorls of 6 to 12, linear lanceolate, pointed and untoothed. Flowers are tiny, greenish with reddish anthers, borne in the axils of the upper leaves.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

In shallow water of lakes, ponds and canals plus various other wet places.

When to see it

Flowers June and July.

Life History

Perennial.

UK Status

Widespread and fairly frequent in Britain, though less so in the west.

VC55 Status

Infrequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. In The Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi & Evans) it was found in 10 of the 617 tetrads.

It was on the 2011 VC55 Rare Plant Register (Jeeves, 2011) but is not on the current RPR (Hall & Woodward, 2022); it is listed as 'data deficient' because it is not clear whether records are of introduced/escaped plants or natives.

 

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Mare's-tail
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Lamiales
Family:
Plantaginaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
6
First record:
08/07/2016 (Morson, Dorothy)
Last record:
05/07/2020 (Bell, Melinda)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

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