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

X. SEED PLANTS

Family Zosteraceae (Eelgrass family).

Includes three genera and 20 species distributed in marine waters of temperate regions in both hemispheres. Submerged aquatic herbs. Rhizome creeping, stem flattened, leaves alternate, linear or filiform, with sheathing bases bearing straight stipules. Flowers unisexual, sessile, arranged in two rows on one side of the rachis of a spadix-like inflorescence. Staminate flower consists of a single sessile anther, pistil comprises two carpels, unilocular. Fruit an achene with a membranous pericarp. The flora of Ukraine is represented by two species.

Eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) A plant with Two Types of shoots: shortened vegetative and long, branched reproductive, 60-150 cm long. Rhizome simple, thickened, 10-15 cm long. Leaves linear, 5-100 cm long and up to 20 mm wide, with 3-7 Veins; sheath open, without auricles. Inflorescence a fan-like spadix, up to 8 cm long. The fan consists of a rachis on one side of which pistillate and staminate flowers alternate. Staminate flower has a single sessile anther, gynoecium of two carpels. Flowers from June to August. Fruit an achene with a whitish membranous pericarp.

Grows in saline Water bodies, in coastal shallow marine areas along the coasts of the Black and Azov Seas, and in river mouths.

The biomass contains Proteins (up to 19.4%), fats (up to 1%), and accumulates various Trace Elements such as cadmium, copper, and zinc. The rhizome accumulates heavy metal salts.

A forage, fishery, industrial, and water-protection plant. It serves as food for barbels, Caspian roach, roach, and is readily consumed by barbs in aquariums; also used as fertilizer. A pioneer species in the overgrowth of coastal shallows. Dried grass was historically used for stuffing mattresses.

Another species, dwarf eelgrass (Z. noltii Hornem.), differs in having single-veined leaves. It is less common than the previous species, growing along the shores of the Black and Azov Seas, and in the Sivash.



Last update: 07/08/2026

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