page_title: Trithuria inconspicua
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Trithuria inconspicua / Description
caption_attribution_description: Trithuria inconspicua photographed in ~2 m of freezing cold water for the book
context_page_description: Trithuria inconspicua is a small aquatic herb of the family Hydatellaceae that is only found in New Zealand.
context_section_description: Trithuria inconspicua is a small (~4 cm) fresh water lily endemic to New Zealand. This lily grows in 5–7 meters of water and is restricted to the fresh water lakes of Northland and Fiordland regions of the North and South Island, respectively. Consisting of multiple 20–40 mm small tussocks and fibrous roots the plant is often partially buried under sediment or algae with only the leaf tips exposed. As the plant is Monoicous individual male and female flowers are found on the same plant, however, in nature plants containing flowers of both sexes are rare. The male flowers consist of bright red 10 mm long filaments, whilst the female flowers are yellow-brown and contain 5-10 styles bunched at the apex.
  There are two subspecies, Trithuria inconspicua subsp. inconspicua is found in dune lakes of Northland in the far north of the North Island, and T. inconspicua subsp. brevistyla is found in glacial lakes of the southern South Island (Smissen R.D., Ford K.A. Champion, P.D. and Heenan, P.B., Australian Systematic Botany 32(1): 1-11 (2019). http://www.nzflora.info/factsheet/taxon/Trithuria-inconspicua.html
caption: T. inconspicua partially buried under sediment. Photo by Jeremy Rolfe
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