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Ruppia maritima
Also called Beaked Tasselweed, Ditchgrass, Ditch-grass, Species code: Rm, Widgeon Grass, Tassel Pondweed, Wigeon Grass
Widgeongrass (Ruppia maritima) is a thread-thin, grasslike aquatic herb that grows submerged in brackish and coastal water. It is a wild pondweed-type plant rather than a garden plant, and it needs clear, shallow, low-turbidity water to thrive.
Ruppia maritima is an aquatic plant species commonly known as beaked tasselweed, beaked ditchgrass, ditch grass, tassel pondweed and widgeon grass. Despite its scientific name, it is not a marine plant; is perhaps best described as a salt-tolerant freshwater species. The generic name Ruppia was dedicated by Linnaeus to the German botanist Heinrich Bernhard Ruppius (1689–1719) and the specific name (maritima) translates to "of the sea".
It can be found throughout the world, most often in coastal areas, where it grows in brackish water bodies, such as marshes. It is a dominant plant in a great many shoreline regions. It does not grow well in turbid water or low-oxygen substrates.
Ruppia bicarpa · Large-fruit seatassel · Species code: Rp · Widgeonweed
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ruppia maritima by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
