Scientific name: Sparganium erectum L.
Common name: Branched Bur-reed
Description
Habit: Glabrous, aquatic or semi-aquatic, rhizomatous, herbaceous perennials rooted in mud; stems erect, robust, up to 1m.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, entire, sessile, linear, rarely floating, without stipules, erect, 12-18mm wide, keeled at base and strongly keeled throughout.
Flowers: Monoecious, actinomorphic; in a terminal spike, raceme or panicle of globose unisexual heads, the upper several contiguous heads exclusively male, the lower, larger 1-3 stalked heads exclusively female; perianth represented by 3-6 scales; male flowers with 3-8 stamens; female flowers with 1-2(-3) fused carpels with as many cells, ovules, stigmas and styles, stigmas linear to subcapitate.
Fruits: Fruit a drupe, small, dry, spongy, fruiting heads 20-25mm across; with 1-2(-3) seeds.
Habitat: Ditches, pools, canals, slow streams and marshes.
Distribution: Frequent.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No