BOTANY WITH THE BASICS OF HYDROBOTANY (AQUATIC PLANTS OF UKRAINE) - B.Ye. Yakubenko - 2011

X. SEED PLANTS

Family Alismataceae (Water-plantain family).

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Fig. 177. Common water-plantain (Alisma plantago-aquatica)

Perennial aquatic or marsh plants. Rhizome 10-60 cm long. Leaves arranged in a rosette, oval or ovate, entire with distinct arcuate Veins. Plants exhibit both aquatic and terrestrial forms. In aquatic forms, leaves are sessile and linear. Submerged leaves are up to 1 m long and 3-15 mm wide; emergent leaves have an expanded blade tapering wedge-like into a long petiole. In terrestrial forms, leaves are oblong-elliptic or linear-lanceolate with a well-differentiated blade. The inflorescence is a somewhat sparse, whorled-branched panicle, with 10-12 branches per whorl. Petals are pink, one and a half times longer than the sepals. Stamens and pistils are six each. The fruit is an aggregate of follicles or achenes. Flower formula: *P₃₊₃ A₃₊₃ G₃₊₃.

The family comprises 13 genera and 90 species distributed worldwide. The flora of Ukraine includes four genera and seven species. The central genus is Alisma, which includes three species in Ukraine, the most widespread being the common water-plantain.

Common water-plantain (Alisma plantago-aquatica L.). A perennial plant with a tuberous rhizome up to 2 cm in diameter and adventitious roots up to 25 cm long (Fig. 177). Lower leaves are sessile, broadly linear, and submerged. Emergent leaves have long petioles and ovate blades with a cordate base. The inflorescence is a pyramidal panicle composed of 5-6(10) whorls with 6-9 branches per whorl. Pedicels are long and slender; flowers are bisexual, with three green sepals and three white or pale pink petals. Stamens number six, and the gynoecium consists of six carpels. Blooms in June-July.

The fruit is an aggregate achene; the achenes are loosely attached to one another and dispersed by wind. It grows along the banks of water bodies, in ditches, on waterlogged meadows, and in bogs throughout Ukraine. A plant with a broad ecological amplitude, it thrives at a water depth of 5-30 cm, serves as an indicator of relatively nutrient-rich water body areas, tolerates moderate anthropogenic pressure, and disappears under regular mowing of the sward.

Less widespread species include lanceleaf water-plantain (Alisma lanceolatum With.), which differs by its linear or lanceolate leaves, and narrow-leaf water-plantain (Alisma gramineum Ley.), in the flowers of which the style of the pistil is hook-like curved. Blooms in June-July. Only the common water-plantain has economic significance.

It is a forage, food, ornamental, phytoremediative, and medicinal plant. ROOT tubers contain starch, sugars, Essential Oils, resins, Alkaloids, saponins. In folk medicine, dried rhizomes are used as a diuretic, anti-inflammatory, and antitoxic agent. Dried and powdered rhizomes are used for renal edema, Kidney stones, hemorrhoids, and as an antipyretic; root decoctions are used as a remedy for rabid animal bites or to decrease Lactation; leaf decoctions are used for jaundice, and fresh leaves are applied to boils.

In Western Europe, it is recommended for diabetes Treatment, and in the US, the plant is officially recognized by medicine as a diuretic. Caution should be exercised during treatment because the fresh plant is poisonous, but upon drying, the alkaloids break down, making baked roots edible. Water-plantain is good feed for domestic pigs; it is eaten by muskrats, nutrias, ducks and other birds, carps, crucian carps, and crayfish. The plant is suitable for strengthening clay banks of water bodies and for decorating ponds and pools; dried inflorescences are used for winter bouquets. Mass proliferation contributes to the siltation of water bodies and acts as a weed in rice fields.

Genus Arrowhead (Sagittaria). Leaves are petiolate with a sagittate blade. The inflorescence is racemose; flowers are unisexual, trimerous, arranged in whorls of three, with staminate flowers having longer pedicels. Fruits are winged achenes gathered into spherical heads. Two species grow in Ukraine, one of which is adventive.

Common arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia L.). A perennial plant with a leafless, three-angled scape 10-80 cm long (Fig. 178). Rhizomes are 25-40 cm long with tuberous thickenings at the ends. Leaves are in a basal rosette, floating and emergent, sagittate, more rarely lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate. The inflorescence is racemose, with trimerous whorls. Flowers are unisexual; one or two lower whorls are pistillate, the others staminate. Sepals are greenish, persisting near the fruits; petals are longer than the calyx, white, pink or dark violet at the base, up to 1.5 cm long. Anthers are dark violet. Blooms in June-July. Achenes are up to 5 mm long.

Fig. 178. Common arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia)

It exhibits intraspecific Variability; leaf blades are particularly variable in shape when plants grow permanently submerged in water.

It grows along the banks of water bodies, in slow-flowing waters, floodplains, and ditches throughout Ukraine. It reproduces mostly vegetatively via stolons and tubers. It suffers from salinity, is undemanding regarding soil fertility, persists in the form of tubers during water body desiccation, and disappears upon water pollution or after bottom dredging. It is an indicator of water bodies with silty or clayey substrates and acidic or neutral medium reactions. It is an ornamental, forage, food, and bee-forage plant.

The aerial mass contains Proteins (up to 22%), fiber (up to 37%), low fats, and nitrogen-free extractive substances. The tubers contain up to 35% starch (which is one and a half times more than in potato tubers), 10.5% proteins, sugars, Lipids, macro- and microelements, and Tannins. Tubers are consumed fresh, dried, and baked. Boiled ones taste like chestnuts, while fresh ones resemble nuts. In China and Japan, they are cultivated and bred in rice fields, yielding up to 2 kg of tubers per square meter; in North America, various arrowhead species were called Indian white potatoes; in France, exquisite dishes are prepared from the tubers. Dry roots are ground into flour, which has diverse Applications: pancakes, kischsels, creams, and jellies are made from it.

Arrowhead shoots are consumed by aquatic fauna: carps, crucian carps, common carps, muskrats, nutrias, waterfowl; leaves are browsed by caterpillar larvae of butterflies, and fish spawn in its thickets.

It is suitable for decorating water bodies and pools, and is cultivated in aquariums.

Another species is delta arrowhead (Sagittaria platyphylla (Engelm.) J.G. Smith) – an adventive plant native to North America.

It grows in bogs, lakes, and has been found in water bodies near Yalta; it differs by having elliptic or broadly linear emergent leaves and possesses properties similar to the previous species.

Fig. 179. Floating water-plantain (Caldesia parnassifolia)

The genus Caldesia is represented in Ukraine by a single species, Caldesia parnassifolia (L.) Pari.

This perennial plant features a short rhizome and grows 10–50 cm tall. Its petiolate leaves are ovate-cordate or ovate, measuring up to 4 cm in length. The inflorescence is umbellate or racemose. Flowers are bisexual, with a greenish calyx, dark petals, six stamens, and six to ten carpels. It blooms from July to September.

The fruit is drupe-like, with a spongy mesocarp and a woody endocarp. Under Ukrainian conditions, it rarely bears fruit and thus propagates primarily via overwintering buds. It occurs occasionally in Polissia and the Northern Forest-Steppe zone, growing along water bodies, in shallow waters, and on sandy river floodplains. As an endangered species included in the Red Data Book, it requires strict protection. The distribution of Caldesia is negatively affected by wetland drainage and water pollution, as the plant depends on crystal-clear water. Both aquatic forms with floating leaves resembling those of common sorrel and smaller terrestrial forms exist. The plants are consumed by muskrats.

The genus Damasonium. In Ukraine, only one species is occasionally found: Damasonium alisma Mill. It is a perennial plant standing 10–30 cm tall, with oblong-ovate, petiolate leaves. The inflorescence is umbellate or racemose; the flowers are bisexual, with greenish outer perianth segments and white inner ones. There are six stamens, and the gynoecium consists of six to eight carpels. It blooms in May and June.

The fruit is an aggregate follicle. This species occurs exclusively in the southern oblasts of Ukraine, with very rare populations in Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts. It is listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine and is in need of conservation.