Species profile—Aponogeton cuneatus
Classification
Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Aponogetonaceae → Aponogeton cuneatus
Species details
- Kingdom
- Plantae (plants)
- Class
- Equisetopsida (land plants)
- Family
- Aponogetonaceae
- Scientific name
- Aponogeton cuneatus S.W.L.Jacobs
- WildNet taxon ID
- 30917
- Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status
- SL
- Conservation significant
- Yes
- Confidential
- Yes
- Wetland status
- Wetland Indicator Species
- Endemicity
- Native
- Pest status
- Nil
- Short Notes
- Status annotated by author
- Description
- Aponogeton cuneatus is an aquatic perennial plant with a tuber (swollen root) up to 4cm long and 1.5cm wide. The leaves are submersed and rarely floating. The leaf blades are narrow to broadly elliptic in shape, 10-50cm long, 2-5cm wide and green to maroon-green.
The flower stalk grows up to about 90cm long, measuring 2-4mm in diameter at the base and broadening to 5-6mm at the base of the flower head. The yellow flowers are floating or emergent, occurring singly, tightly flowered or spaced along the stem and turned in all directions. The fruit is rounded, thick coated, 2.5-5.8mm long and 1.8-5.0mm wide. Each fruit contains 2-5 seeds. The seeds are elliptic, 1.2-3.2mm long and 0.5-1.1mm wide.
This species has characteristic wedge-shaped (cuneate) outer, non-reproductive flower segments. A. cuneatus is superficially similar to A. elongatus, but a conspicuous difference exists in the shape of the outer flower segments, with A. cuneatus having wedge-shaped tepals and A. elongatus having spatula-shaped tepals. (Jacobs et al. 2006; DEWHA 2008) - Habitat
- Aponogeton cuneatus is found in permanent creeks and rivers, often in shaded areas. (Jacobs et al. 2006)
- Notes
- Contributors: Kathy Stephens, Mellisa Mayhew 27/01/2009
- References
- Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (2008). Aponogeton cuneatus in Species Profile and Threats Database, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Canberra. http://www.environment.gov.au/sprat
Herbrecs (2008) Aponogeton cuneatus, in BriMapper version 2.12. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 23/09/2008.
Jacobs, S.W.L., Les, D.H., Moody, M.L. & Hellquist, C.B. (2006). Two new species of Aponogeton (Aponogetonaceae) and a key to species from Australia. Telopea, 11(2): 129-34. - Profile author
- Kathy Stephens (27/01/2009)
Other resources
Data source
This profile data is sourced from the QLD Wildlife Data API using the Get species by ID function used under CC-By 4.0.
https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species/?op=getspeciesbyid&taxonid=30917.
This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.
