Egeria densa

Brazilian water weed

Family: Hydrocharitaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Brazilian water weed is a naturalized perennial found in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, Great Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, San Jacinto Mountains, and Great Basin in streams, ponds, and sloughs at elevations below 2,200 meters. Flowering from July to August, this aquatic plant produces white flowers with rounded petals 8 to 10 millimeters long. Growing with slender stems 2 to 3 millimeters thick, it forms dense underwater vegetation. Its leaves are narrowly oblong, 1.2 to 4 centimeters long, 2 to 5 millimeters wide, with finely serrated edges that recurve slightly. In aquatic environments, the plant can form extensive underwater meadows that provide habitat for aquatic organisms.

Habitat: Streams, ponds, sloughs

Bloom period: Jul-Aug

Elevation: < 2200 m

Bioregions: SNF, GV, SnFrB, SnJt, GB

California counties: Mono, Riverside, San Joaquin, Kern, Nevada, Los Angeles, Marin, Sutter, Napa, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Tuolumne, Sacramento, Fresno, Calaveras, Placer, Shasta, Sonoma, Merced, Madera, Imperial, Contra Costa, Butte, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, San Diego, Siskiyou, El Dorado, Stanislaus

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