Callitriche palustris
species of plant
Callitriche palustris, the vernal water-starwort, narrow-fruited water-starwort, or spiny water starwort, is a species of aquatic plants. It is the type species of its genus.
It is native to temperate and subtropical North America and Eurasia, as well as Sumatra and Borneo.
Taxonomy
Callitriche palustris was given its scientific name in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus. It is classified in the genus Callitriche within the wider family Plantaginaceae.
Subspecies and varieties
There is one subspecies and five accepted varieties.
Callitriche palustris var. elegans (Petrov) Y.L.Chang – southeastern and northeastern China, Japan, Sakhalin, and East European Russia. It was classified as a variety in 1977 by Yui Liang Chang.
Callitriche palustris var.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Callitriche palustris” is species of plant. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Callitriche, palustris and species, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “species of plant” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q158996. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1753 and 1977.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Callitriche palustris” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.