Myriophyllum aquaticum

Parrot's feather, Parrot's Feather

Family: Haloragaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Parrot's feather is a naturalized perennial found in northern and central California regions including the Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada Foothills, Central Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, and Mojave Desert in ponds, streams, and lakes at elevations below 500 meters. Flowering from July to September, this aquatic plant produces small, inconspicuous flowers in terminal emergent inflorescences. Growing with bright green to grayish-green stems less than one meter long, it forms dense, leafy mats throughout water bodies. Its finely dissected underwater leaves have 20 to 30 segments, each approximately 7 millimeters long, creating a delicate, feather-like appearance. This dioecious plant is notable for its ability to spread extensively in aquatic habitats, with no viable fruit production in California.

Habitat: Common. Ponds, streams, lakes

Bloom period: Jul-Sep

Elevation: < 500 m

Bioregions: NCo, NCoR, CaRF, SNF, GV, CCo, SnFrB, SCo, DMoj

California counties: Kings, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Monterey, Sutter, San Luis Obispo, Humboldt, Kern, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Butte, Sonoma, Placer, Merced, Stanislaus, Glenn, Mendocino, Tulare, Shasta, Yuba, Tehama, San Diego, Napa, Contra Costa, Trinity, Del Norte, San Joaquin, El Dorado

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