Aquatic Plants

Aquatic plants — also called hydrophytic plants or hydrophytes — are plants that have adapted to living in or on aquatic environments. Aquatic vascular plants can be ferns or angiosperms (from a variety of families, including among the monocots and dicots). Seaweeds are not vascular plants but multicellular marine algae. The following species have been reported to be invasive in natural areas in the U.S. Species native to the U.S. are included when they are invasive in areas well outside their known natural ranges, as a result of human activities. For more information on each species, including the listing sources, images, and distribution maps, click on the species.

32 Species

Subject Name	Scientific Name	Family	U.S. Nativity
alligatorweed	Alternanthera philoxeroides (Mart.) Griseb.	Amaranthaceae	Exotic
giant salvinia	Salvinia molesta D. S. Mitchell	Salviniaceae	Exotic
Brazilian waterweed	Egeria densa Planch.	Hydrocharitaceae	Exotic
waterhyacinth	Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms	Pontederiaceae	Exotic
hydrilla	Hydrilla verticillata (L. f.) Royle	Hydrocharitaceae	Exotic
purple loosestrife	Lythrum salicaria L.	Lythraceae	Exotic
parrot feather milfoil	Myriophyllum aquaticum (Vell.) Verdc.	Haloragaceae	Exotic
Eurasian watermilfoil	Myriophyllum spicatum Linnaeus	Haloragaceae	Exotic
brittleleaf naiad	Najas minor All.	Najadaceae	Exotic
torpedograss	Panicum repens L.	Poaceae	Exotic
common reed	Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud.	Poaceae	Exotic
waterlettuce	Pistia stratiotes L.	Araceae	Native
water-chestnut	Trapa natans L.	Trapaceae	Exotic
water fern	Salvinia minima Baker	Salviniaceae	Exotic
sessile joyweed	Alternanthera sessilis (L.) R. Br. ex DC.	Amaranthaceae	Exotic
miramar weed	Hygrophila polysperma (Roxb.) T. Anders.	Acanthaceae	Exotic
Mediterranean clone of caulerpa	Caulerpa taxifolia (Vahl) C. Agardth	Caulerpaceae	Exotic
swamp morningglory	Ipomoea aquatica Forssk.	Convolvulaceae	Exotic
creeping waterprimrose	Ludwigia peploides (Kunth) Raven	Onagraceae	Native
curlyleaf pondweed	Potamogeton crispus L.	Potamogetonaceae	Exotic
deeprooted sedge	Cyperus entrerianus Boeckl.	Cyperaceae	Exotic
European waterstarwort	Callitriche stagnalis Scop.	Callitrichaceae	Exotic
water starwort	Myosoton aquaticum (L.) Moench	Caryophyllaceae	Exotic
crested floating heart	Nymphoides cristata (Roxb.) O. Ktze.	Menyanthaceae	Exotic
common frogbit	Hydrocharis morsus-ranae L.	Hydrocharitaceae	Exotic
European pepperwort	Marsilea quadrifolia L.	Marsileaceae	Exotic
yellow floatingheart	Nymphoides peltata (Gmel.) Kuntze	Menyanthaceae	Exotic
Asian kelp	Undaria pinnatifida (Harvey) Suringar	Alariaceae	Exotic
common duckweed	Lemna minor L.	Lemnaceae	Native
roundleaf toothcup	Rotala rotundifolia (Buch.-Ham. ex Roxb.) Koehne	Lythraceae	Exotic
Cuban bulrush	Oxycaryum cubense (Poepp. & Kunth) Lye	Cyperaceae	Native
dotted duckmeat	Landoltia punctata (G.F.W. Mey.) D.H. Les & D.J. Crawford	Lemnaceae	Native