Elodea najas (Planch.) Casp. and Vallisneria natans (Lour.) H.Hara (Hydrocharitaceae): Two Recently Naturalized Aquascape Plants in Java, Indonesia
Keywords:
aquascape plant, Hydrocharitaceae, ITS, introduced, Malesia, molecular
Abstract
Aquatic ornamental plants are in high demand, driving market growth. The widespread importation of various aquascape species has led to the naturalisation of some taxa. During our field survey, we recorded two newly documented aquatic species in West and East Java from naturalized and cultivated populations: Elodea najas (Planch.) Casp. and Vallisneria natans (Lour.) H.Hara. Naturalized E. najas populations were found in Bogor and Sumedang, while V. natans proliferates along the Cilubang Tonggoh River in Bogor. The genus Elodea is often misidentified and sold as Hydrilla; thus, molecular analysis using the ITS sequence was conducted to confirm specimen identity.
References
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2017. Guide to collecting herbarium specimens in the field, Kew, United Kingdom (UK): Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Saddhe, A.A. & Kumar, K., 2018. DNA barcoding of plants: selection of core markers for taxonomic groups. Plant Science Today, 5(1), pp.9–13. doi: 10.14719/pst.2018.5.1.356.
Sun, Y. et al., 1994. Phylogenetic analysis of Sorghum and related taxa using internal transcribed spacers of nuclear ribosomal DNA. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 89, pp.26–32.
Susanti, E. et al., 2015. Phylogenetic analysis of Phanerochaete chrysosporium ITB isolate using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence. International Journal of ChemTech Research, 8(6), pp.654–658.
Tamura, K., Stecher, G. & Kumar, S., 2021. MEGA11: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis version 11. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 38(7), pp.3022–3027. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msab120.
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Wang, Q. et al., 2010. Hydrocharitaceae. In Flora of China. Vol. 23 (Acoraceae through Cyperaceae). St. Louis: Missouri Botanical Garden Press, pp. 91–102.
Wasekura, H. et al., 2016. Molecular identification of alien species of Vallisneria (Hydrocharitaceae) species in Japan with a special emphasis on the commercially traded accessions and the discovery of hybrid between nonindigenous V. spiralis and native V. denseserrulata. Aquatic Botany, 128, pp.1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.aquabot.2015.09.002.
Yakandawala, D. et al., 2013. Is the blooming ornamental aquatic plant industry a threat to the aquatic ecosystems of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Forester, 35, pp.1–104.
Yang, C. F. et al., 2016. Sequence characteristics and phylogenetic implications of the nrDNA internal transcribed spacers (ITS) in protospecies and landraces of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.). Sugar Tech, 18, 8-15. doi: 10.1007/s12355-014-0355-9.
Anačkov, G. et al., 2013. Alien invasive neophytes of the Southeastern part of the Pannonian Plain. Central European Journal of Biology, 8, pp.1032–1043. doi: 10.2478/s11535-013-0225-6.
Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1968. Flora of Java. Vol. III, Groningen, The Netherlands: N.V.P. Noordhoff.
Bubíková, K. et al., 2021. Invasive elodeas in Slovakia (Central Europe): distribution, ecology and effect on native macrophyte assemblages. Aquatic Invasions, 16(4), pp.617–636. doi: 10.3391/ai.2021.16.4.03.
Buldrini, F. et al., 2023. The invasion history of Elodea canadensis and E. nuttallii (Hydrocharitaceae) in Italy from herbarium accessions, field records and historical literature. Biological Invasions, 25(3), pp.827–846. doi: 10.1007/s10530-022-02949-6.
Cook, C.D.K. & Urmi-König, K., 1984. A revision of the genus Egeria (Hydrocharitaceae). Aquatic Botany, 19(1-2), pp.73–96.
Cook, C.D.K. & Urmi-König, K., 1985. A revision of the genus Elodea (Hydrocharitaceae). Aquatic Botany, 21(2), pp.111–156.
Cook, C.D.K., 1998. Hydrocharitaceae. In The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants 4. Berlin: Springer Verlag, pp. 234–248.
den Hartog, C.,1955. Hydrocharitaceae. Flora Malesiana - Series 1, Spermatophyta, 5(1), pp.381–413.
de Wilde, W.J.J.O., 1960. Najadaceae. Flora Malesiana - Series 1, Spermatophyta, 6(1), pp.157–171.
Fleming, J.P. & Dibble, E.D., 2015. Ecological mechanisms of invasion success in aquatic macrophytes. Hydrobiologia, 746, pp.23–37. doi: 10.1007/s10750-014-2026-y.
Garland, D. et al., 2022. Management of the invasive Nuttall's pondweed (Elodea nuttallii) in Lough Arrow, a Natura 2000 designated lake in Western Ireland. Management of Biological Invasions, 13(1), pp.118–130. doi: 10.3391/mbi.2022.13.1.07
Hapsari, L., Azrianingsih, R. & Arumingtyas, E. L., 2018. Genetic variability and relationship of banana cultivars (Musa L.) from East Java, Indonesia based on the internal transcribed spacer region nrDNA sequences. Journal of Tropical Biology & Conservation (JTBC), 15, pp.101–120.
Hariri, M.R. et al., 2023. Mayacaceae in Indonesia: an alien family escaped from cultivation. Floribunda, 7(3), pp.139–141. doi: 10.32556/floribunda.v7i3.2023.404.
Haynes, R.R., 2000. Elodea. In Flora of North America North of Mexico, vol. 22. Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 32–34.
Haynes, R.R. & Holm-Nielsen, L.B., 2001. The genera of Hydrocharitaceae in the southeastern United States. Harvard Papers in Botany, 5(2), pp.201–275.
Hussner, A., 2012. Alien aquatic plants in European countries. Weed Research, 52, pp.397–406. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3180.2012.00926.x.
Irsyam, A.S.D. et al., 2022. Five newly recorded alien species of Hydrocotyle Tourn. ex L.(Araliaceae) in Java, Indonesia. Check List, 18(4), pp.763–772. doi: 10.15560/18.4.763.
Kadono, Y., 2006. Alien aquatic plants naturalized in Japan: history and present status. Global Environmental Research, 8(2), pp.163–169.
Kočić, A., Horvatić, J. & Jelaska, S.D., 2014. Distribution and morphological variations of invasive macrophytes Elodea nuttallii (Planch.) H. St. John and Elodea canadensis Michx in Croatia. Acta Botanica Croatica, 73(2), pp.437–446. doi: 10.2478/botcro-2014-0011.
Lansdown, R.V. et al., 2016. Review of alien freshwater vascular plants in South-east Europe. ESENIAS Scientific Reports, 1, pp.137–154.
Lemoine, F. et al., 2018. Renewing Felsenstein’s phylogenetic bootstrap in the era of big data. Nature, 556(7702), pp.452–456. doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0043-0.
Les, D.H. et al., 2008. Systematics of Vallisneria (Hydrocharitaceae). Systematic Botany, 33(1), pp.49–65. doi: 10.1600/036364408783887483.
Lowden, R.M., 1982. An approach to the taxonomy of Vallisneria L.(Hydrocharitaceae). Aquatic Botany, 13, pp.269–298. doi: 10.1016/0304-3770(82)90064-X.
Martin, A.P. & Mort, M.E., 2023. Vallisneria (Hydrocharitaceae): novel species, taxonomic revisions, and hybridization. Aquatic Botany, 188, p.103669. doi: 10.1016/j.aquabot.2023.103669.
Matthews, J. et al., 2012. Risk analysis of non-native Tapegrass (Vallisneria spiralis) in the Netherlands. Nijmegen, Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University Nijmegen.
Mayoral, O. et al., 2018. Alien plant diversity in Mediterranean wetlands: a comparative study within Valencian, Balearic and Sardinian floras. Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca, 46(2), pp.317–326. doi: 10.15835/nbha46210470.
McCullough, C.D., 1997. A review of the aquatic macrophyte family Hydrocharitaceae (Angiospermae) in New Zealand. Tane, 36, pp.181–195.
Mesterházy, A. et al., 2021. Assessing the genuine identity of alien Vallisneria (Hydrocharitaceae) species in Europe. Aquatic Botany, 174, p.103431. doi: 10.1016/j.aquabot.2021.103431.
Nissanka, W.A.P.D.T.B. et al., 2018. Potential penetration of exotic aquatic plants into natural environment through ornamental plant industry in Sri Lanka. Journal of Agriculture and Value Addition, 1(2), pp.73–84.
Pancho, J.V. & Soerjani, M., 1978. Aquatic weeds of Southeast Asia: A systematic account of common Southeast Asian aquatic weeds, Bogor, Indonesia: SEAMEO BIOTROP.
Plants of The World Online (POWO), 2024, ‘Hydrocharitaceae Juss.’ in Plants of The World Onlines, viewed 30 November 2024, from https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30013086-2
Redekop, P., Hofstra, D. & Hussner, A., 2016. Elodea canadensis shows a higher dispersal capacity via fragmentation than Egeria densa and Lagarosiphon major. Aquatic Botany, 130, pp.45–49. doi: 10.1016/j.aquabot.2016.01.004.
Rimac, A. et al., 2018. The Brazilian elodea (Egeria densa Planch.) invasion reaches Southeast Europe. BioInvasions Record, 7(4), pp.381–389. doi: 10.3391/bir.2018.7.4.05.
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2017. Guide to collecting herbarium specimens in the field, Kew, United Kingdom (UK): Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Saddhe, A.A. & Kumar, K., 2018. DNA barcoding of plants: selection of core markers for taxonomic groups. Plant Science Today, 5(1), pp.9–13. doi: 10.14719/pst.2018.5.1.356.
Sun, Y. et al., 1994. Phylogenetic analysis of Sorghum and related taxa using internal transcribed spacers of nuclear ribosomal DNA. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 89, pp.26–32.
Susanti, E. et al., 2015. Phylogenetic analysis of Phanerochaete chrysosporium ITB isolate using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence. International Journal of ChemTech Research, 8(6), pp.654–658.
Tamura, K., Stecher, G. & Kumar, S., 2021. MEGA11: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis version 11. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 38(7), pp.3022–3027. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msab120.
Vu, T.H.T. et al., 2017. Review on molecular markers for identification of Orchids. Vietnam Journal of Science, Technology and Engineering, 59(2), pp.62–75. doi: 10.31276/VJSTE.59(2).62
Wang, Q. et al., 2010. Hydrocharitaceae. In Flora of China. Vol. 23 (Acoraceae through Cyperaceae). St. Louis: Missouri Botanical Garden Press, pp. 91–102.
Wasekura, H. et al., 2016. Molecular identification of alien species of Vallisneria (Hydrocharitaceae) species in Japan with a special emphasis on the commercially traded accessions and the discovery of hybrid between nonindigenous V. spiralis and native V. denseserrulata. Aquatic Botany, 128, pp.1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.aquabot.2015.09.002.
Yakandawala, D. et al., 2013. Is the blooming ornamental aquatic plant industry a threat to the aquatic ecosystems of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Forester, 35, pp.1–104.
Yang, C. F. et al., 2016. Sequence characteristics and phylogenetic implications of the nrDNA internal transcribed spacers (ITS) in protospecies and landraces of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.). Sugar Tech, 18, 8-15. doi: 10.1007/s12355-014-0355-9.
Published
2025-07-25
How to Cite
Irsyam, A. S. D., Hariri, M. R., Peniwidiyanti, P., Raynalta, E., Baidlowi, M. H., Fadhil, M. H., Muzzazinah, M. and Rosleine, D. (2025) “Elodea najas (Planch.) Casp. and Vallisneria natans (Lour.) H.Hara (Hydrocharitaceae): Two Recently Naturalized Aquascape Plants in Java, Indonesia ”, Journal of Tropical Biodiversity and Biotechnology, 10(3), p. jtbb18199. doi: 10.22146/jtbb.18199.
Section
Short Communication
