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Najas marina

Common name:	Spiny Naiad	Family:	Najadaceae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	17, 50
Synonyms:	Najas major (All.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Cosmopolitan, found in most areas of the world, including Britain, but absent from colder regions.
Habitat:	Fresh or brackish water[50].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	1	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	N. gracilis[B,P] N. major var. angustifolia[B,P] N. marina var. recurvata[B,P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Groot Nimfkruid [D], Holly-leaf Waternymph [B], Holly-leaved Naiad [L], Spiny Naiad [P],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	marina = near sea;
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Najadales. Water-nymph family
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: South Carolina.

Physical Characteristics

Perennial. . The flowers are dioecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grown if seed is required) and are pollinated by Water. We rate it 1/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils and can grow in saline soil. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It can grow in water.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Pond.

Edible Uses

Leaves.

Young plant - raw[46, 61, 105].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

A submerged water plant, succeeding in shallow fresh or brackish water[200].
This is one of the few genera of plants where fertilization takes place under the surface of the water[274].
Dioecious, male and female plants must be grown if seed is required[274].

Propagation

Seed - we have no information on this species but suggest sowing the seed in situ as soon as it is ripe if this is possible. Otherwise store the seed in water in a cool place and sow it in situ in the spring.
Division in the growing season[200].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Najadaceae.

To be included in the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[50] ? Flora Europaea Cambridge University Press 1964
An immense work in 6 volumes (including the index). The standard reference flora for europe, it is very terse though and with very little extra information. Not for the casual reader.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

Readers Comments

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Bibliography

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Najas+marina
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Najas+marina

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We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.