Ceratophyllum demersum

Coon's tail

Family: Ceratophyllaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Coon's tail is a native perennial found throughout California (except Cascade Range foothills, Tehama, Channel Islands, White and Inyo Mountains, and Desert Mountains) in ditches, lakes, ponds, and slow watercourses at elevations generally below 1,700 meters. Flowering from June to August, this aquatic plant produces tiny pink to red staminate flowers and small yellow to red-tinged pistillate flowers. Growing as a suspended, limp water plant 1 to 3 meters long with brittle branching stems, it forms dense underwater clusters. Its leaves are arranged in whorls of 3 to 11 per node, with delicate, finely toothed segments and small multicellular appendages at the tips. The fruit is dark green to red-brown, 3.5 to 6 millimeters long, with distinctive tubercles and occasionally small spines at the base.

Habitat: Common. Ditches, lakes, ponds, pools, slow watercourses; water 0.1--4 m deep, fresh to +- brackish, medium to high nutrient levels, acidic to alkaline (pH 5.9--9.4) but generally alkaline (pH > 7)

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: generally < 1700 m

Bioregions: CA (exc CaRF, Teh, ChI, W&ampI, DMtns)

California counties: Los Angeles, Lake, Monterey, Kern, San Bernardino, Santa Clara, Siskiyou, Riverside, Sonoma, Plumas, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Mono, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Inyo, Imperial, Modoc, San Francisco, Orange, San Joaquin, Mendocino, San Diego, Marin, Butte, Humboldt, Mariposa, Merced, Sierra, Yuba, Lassen, Shasta, Ventura, El Dorado, Sutter, Alameda, Stanislaus, Napa, Sacramento, Colusa, Solano

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.