UC IPM Online UC ANR home page UC IPM home page

UC IPM Home

SKIP navigation

 

How to Manage Pests

Identification: Weed Photo Gallery

Naiads

Scientific name: Najas spp. (Waterweed Family: Hydrocharitaceae)

Click on image to enlarge

Life stages of Naiads top left picture bottom left picture right picture

Naiads are annual freshwater broadleaf plants with floating or submerged leaves, or both. They grow in rice fields and other areas where standing water persists from early spring into summer.

Mature plant

Leaves encircle the stem in whorls of three. Leaves are 1 inch (2.54 cm) long and very narrow, 1/100 to 1/10 of an inch (0.25–2.5 mm) wide and taper at the tips. Stems are 10 to 25 inches (25­–62.5 cm) long and may branch at the stem joints (nodes). Leaf edges have minute teeth.

Flower

Tiny, stalkless flowers are found in the junctions between the stem and leaf stalks.

Reproduction

Plants reproduce from seeds or from stems.

More information


Statewide IPM Program, Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California
All contents copyright © 2011 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

For noncommercial purposes only, any Web site may link directly to this page. FOR ALL OTHER USES or more information, read Legal Notices. Unfortunately, we cannot provide individual solutions to specific pest problems. See our Home page, or in the U.S., contact your local Cooperative Extension office for assistance. /PMG/WEEDS/naiads.html revised: October 31, 2011. Contact webmaster.