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Trapa natans

(Water Chestnut, Water Nut)

Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Chinese:

Ci Ling, Ou Ling, Si Jiao Ling (As T Quadrispinosa), Ye Ling

Common Names in Danish:

Hornnød, Vandkastanje

Common Names in Dutch:

Waterkastanje, Waternoot

Common Names in English:

Bull Nut, Bull Nut (Usa), Bull-Nut, European Water Chestnut, Jesuit´s Nut, Jesuits´ Nut, Ling Nut, Water Caltrop, Water Chestnut, Water Chestnut, Water Nut, Water Nut, Water-Chestnut

Common Names in Finnish:

Vesipähkinä

Common Names in French:

Châtaigne D´eau, Châtaigne D´eau à Quatre Cornes (As T Quadrispinosa), Châtaigne D´eau Européenne, Châtaigne D´eau Tetracorne (As T Quadrispinosa), Cornelle, Corniche (Canada), Cornue, Mâcre Commune, Marron D´eau, Noix Aquatique, Trape, Trape D´eau (Canada)

Common Names in German:

Wasserkastanie, Wassernuß

Common Names in Hungarian:

Sulyom

Common Names in Italian:

Castagna D´acqua, Castagna D'acqua, Trapa, Tribolo Acquatico

Common Names in Japanese:

Ko Oni Bishi, Oni Bishi, Oni-Bisi

Common Names in Norwegian:

Vassnøtt

Common Names in Polish:

Kotewka, Orzech Wodny

Common Names in Portuguese:

Castanha D´água

Common Names in Romanian:

Cornaci

Common Names in Russian:

орецх водяной, Orech Vodianoi, Orech Vodjanoj, Vodianoi Orekh Plavaiushchii

Common Names in Spanish:

Abrojo De Agua, Castaña De Agua

Common Names in Swedish:

Sjönöt

Common Names in Thai:

Kra Chom, Ma Ngaeng

Description

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Family Trapaceae

Herbs annual , aquatic , rooted or floating. Stem submerged, slender, unbranched, internodes elongate ; adventitious roots developing from leaf scars , highly dissected , leaflike, photosynthetic. Leaves dimorphic ; stipules deeply cleft ; submerged leaves opposite, sessile, simple , linear , caducous ; floating leaves crowded terminally into a rosette, petiolate ; petiole inflated about the middle ; leaf blade rhombic to deltoid, distal half of margin coarsely dentate . Flowers solitary in upper leaf axils , flowering at water surface, bisexual , 4-merous, actinomorphic . Floral tube (hypanthium) developed, partly epigynous . Sepals 4, valvate , persistent as hardened horns of fruit. Petals 4, white or lilac, deciduous. Stamens 4, antesepalous ; anthers introrse , versatile. Ovary surrounded by a coronary disk, partly inferior, becoming inferior in fruit, 2-loculed; ovules anatropous , pendulous, 1 per locule, 1 ovule undeveloped after anthesis ; placentation axile . Stigma capitate, deciduous. Fruit indehiscent, (0-) 2-4-horned, turbinate , cup-shaped, or elongate rhombic, exocarp succulent, ephemeral , endocarp stony, with a thin to prominent crest between and along horns, fruit topped by a dome-shaped or tetragonal to rounded crown, crown apex a pointed beak or tuft of hairs . Seed 1; cotyledons unequal, 1 large, starchy, retained in fruit, 1 small, scalelike, germinating from fruit apex, through pore of stylar canal; endosperm absent.

One genus and two species: subtropical and temperate regions of Africa, Asia, and Europe; introduced in Australia and North America; two species in China.

Trapa is allied morphologically to the Lythraceae by the partly inferior position of the ovary together with a host of other features, including basically opposite, simple leaves, development of the floral tube which persists in fruit, valvate sepals, 4-merous flowers, introrse and versatile anthers, axile placentation , and seeds without endosperm. Trapa is sufficiently similar to the Lythraceae and Onagraceae to have been considered for membership within either family or, as has been done here, as a closely related family. Molecular evidence suggests the closest relative is Sonneratia (Lythraceae) .[1]

Genus Trapa

Morphological characters and geographic distribution are the same as those of the family .

Numerous species and infraspecific taxa have been proposed based on variations in size and ornamentation of the fruit. However, these variations overlap to such an extent that a more discrete definition of taxa is not supported here.

Plants are regionally cultivated for their fruit, which contain abundant starch and are consumed both raw and cooked. The seeds are ground into a flour used for medicine and making starch and wine. The fruit and fresh plants can be used for pig feed .[2]

Physical Description

Species Trapa natans

Stem 2.5-6 mm in diam. Petiole (2-) 5-18 cm, stout, ± swollen distally, pubescent ; leaf blade glossy and dark green adaxially, greenish purple abaxially, often with colored spots between veins, deltoid-rhombic to oblate-rhombic, 4-6 × 4-8 cm, abaxially pubescent, adaxially glabrous, base broadly cuneate, margin irregularly dentate distally. Petals white, 7-10 mm. Fruit turbinate to shortly rhombic , 1.8-3 × 2-4.5 × 1-2.8 cm, (0-) 2-4-horned, crest a prominent bulge to a thin rib , crown tetragonal to rounded , or dome-shaped, rarely crownless, 1-8(-11) mm, beak conic or a tuft of hairs ; horns horizontal, ascending , or recurved, flat-triangular or broadly conic, 2-3.5 cm, apex barbellate or cultivated without barbs . Fl. May-Oct, fr. Jul-Nov. 2n = 44*, 46*, 48*, 76*, 90*, ?96. [source]

In FRPS (53(2) : 7, 9. 2000), the names Trapa macropoda Miki, T. mammillifera Miki, and T. octotuberculata Miki, all of which are based on fossil types, were misapplied to plants of T. natans. [source]

Habit: Forb/herb

Flowers: Flower Color: near white, white

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 24-36" tall.

Habitat

Slow-moving rivers , lakes , swamps , ponds , also widely cultivated in China; near sea level to 2700 m [3].

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 869 meters (0 to 2,851 feet).[4]

Biome: National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII)

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 6-9" apart.

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

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Notes

Publishing author : Roxb. Publication : Hort. Bengal. 11; Fl. Ind. i. 428. Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Place of publication: Sp. pl. 1:120. 1753

Name verified on 07-Nov-1985 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 23-Aug-1994

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Trapa

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 121 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

T. acicularis · T. acornis · T. alatyrica · T. americana · T. amurensis · T. angulata · T. annosa · T. annosa f. bicornis · T. annosa f. erecticornis · T. annosa f. pseudomuzzanensis · T. antennifera · T. araborum · T. arcuata · T. assamica · T. astrachanica · T. astrachanica var. caspica · T. austroafricana · T. bicornis (Asian Water Chestnut) · T. bicornis var. acornis · T. bicornis var. bispinosa · T. bicornis var. coreanus · T. bicornis var. taiwanensis · T. bispinosa · T. borealis · T. borysthenica · T. brevicarpa · T. brevicarpa f. effigia · T. brevicarpa f. quadrata · T. brevicarpa var. delicata · T. carinthiaca · T. castanea · T. chinensis · T. cochinchinensis · T. colchica · T. congolensis · T. conocarpa · T. conocarpa var. suecica · T. cruciata · T. danubialis · T. europaea · T. europaea var. clipeata · T. europaea var. egregia · T. europaea var. macrocarpa · T. europaea var. vulgata · T. fastigiata · T. flerovii · T. grozdovii · T. hungarica · T. hyrcana · T. incisa · T. insperata · T. jankovicii · T. japonica · T. japonica var. jeholensis · T. japonica var. magnicorona · T. japonica var. tuberculifera · T. jeholensis · T. kasachstanica · T. kazakorum · T. korshinskyi · T. krauselii · T. laevis · T. litwinowii · T. longicarpa · T. longicarpa f. columnifera · T. longicarpa f. depressa · T. longicarpa f. elongata · T. longicarpa f. subcoronata · T. longicarpa f. turgida · T. longicarpa subsp. valida · T. longicarpa valida · T. longicarpa var. loricata · T. longicarpa var. mammeata · T. longicarpa var. rubra · T. longicarpa var. spatiosa · T. longicornis · T. macropoda · T. macrorhiza · T. maeotica · T. maleevii · T. manshurica · T. manshurica f. komarovii · T. manshurica var. tranzschelii · T. maximowicii · T. maximowiczii · T. media · T. metschorica · T. microphylla · T. natans (European Water Chestnut) · T. natans var. bispinosa (Roxb.) Makino (Water Chestnut) · T. natans var. bispinosa (Singhara Nut) · T. natans var. natans (Caltrop) · T. natans var. pumila · T. numidica · T. nutans · T. okensis · T. pectinata · T. potaninii · T. pseudincisa · T. pseudincisa var. aspinifa

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 15, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Jiarui Chen, Bingyang Ding & Michele Funston "Trapaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 274, 290. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Trapa". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 274, 290. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. "Trapa natans". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 290, 291. Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  4. Mean = 275.980 meters (905.446 feet), Standard Deviation = 328.150 based on 421 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/1/2009