Luziola fluitans

Water grass

Native to Florida

Species Overview

This species is a true aquatic grass, that looks like lawn grass. It is rooted on the bottom extending up to float and trail across the shallow, slow-moving waters of ponds, swamps, streams, and wet, disturbed sites nearly throughout the state. Water grass blooms from summer to fall (Wunderlin, 2003). It can tolerate long periods of drought, so long as the soil is wet. Its seeds and leaves are eaten by birds.

Species Characteristics

Water grass is a grass. stems slender, lower stems submersed, rooting at nodes, upper stems floating and leafy, stems branched, erect in mud, to 8 in. long; leaf blades light green, flat, short, to 1/4 in. wide, to 3 in. long, sandpapery on upper; ligule papery; inflorescences infrequent, tiny, branched, among or just above leaves, tiny whitish flowers.

Impacts