tape grass

tape grass, (genus Vallisneria), genus of 14 species of perennial aquatic plants of the family Hydrocharitaceae. Tape grasses grow fully submerged in fresh or brackish water and are native to temperate and tropical waters around the world. Some species—namely, straight tape grass (Vallisneria spiralis) and American tape grass (V. americana)—are often grown in aquariums. Many species of tape grass are considered “keystone species” for their importance in providing habitat for fish and invertebrates, stabilizing sediments, and filtering water. The plants are an important food for wild ducks and turtles, and American tape grass is eaten by manatees. Tape grasses are sometimes called eelgrass, though they are not closely related to true eelgrass of the genus Zostera.

Tape grass species have long thin leaves that grow in a clustered rosette. They can reproduce asexually from creeping underground rhizomes and stolons. The plants are dioecious (bearing only male or female flowers) and feature a unique aquatic pollination system. The staminate (male) flowers are produced below the surface of the water on one or more short stalks. The carpellate (female) flowers float on the water’s surface, attached usually by long stalks. The weight of the carpellate flower and the downward pressure from the pull of the stalk result in a very slight depression (or meniscus) in the surface of the water on which the flower floats. When the pollen matures, the stalk of the staminate flower breaks, and the flower rises to the surface of the water. As the flower reaches the water’s surface, the change in water pressure causes the flower to open, and it is essentially floating on a “boat” formed by its reflexed petals. The staminate flower is then blown along the surface of the water by the wind and may eventually approach the meniscus of a carpellate flower. The meniscus is important in pollen transfer: as the staminate flower enters a meniscus, it tips toward the carpellate flower because of the lower water level in the meniscus, and pollen transfer is accomplished either by direct contact between the male anther and the female stigma or by pollen falling onto the stigma.