Cabomba Description
| Taxonomic name | Plant family | Common names |
| Cabomba caroliniana A. Gray. | Cabombaceae | Cabomba, fanwort. |
Description
Submerged cabomba leaf
Cabomba is a submerged freshwater plant with fan-shaped underwater leaves, narrow floating leaves and emergent white flowers. Plants are usually rooted in soil by way of rhizomes and shallow fibrous roots. However, stem fragments can float free for 6-8 weeks before attaching to substrate. Populations are typically very dense (e.g. up to 40 plants per m 2) with long stems that can fill the entire water column in 0.5 m to > 3 m of water. Cabomba was originally traded as an aquarium species.
Click here to download the Cabomba Photo Identification Table (656KB)
Close up - cabomba flower
Distinguishing Features
- Stems – numerous, non-woody, usually red but sometimes green. Length is to 5 m and rarely to 10 m.
- Underwater leaves – arranged in opposite pairs along the stem with leaf stalks approximately 1 cm long. Leaves are fan-shaped, approximately 5 cm in diameter and divided into fine segments.
- Floating leaves – narrow, diamond shaped leaves, 2-3 cm long with petiole attached to the middle of the leaf. Usually several grouped at the tips of stems on the flowering shoot.
- Flowers – solitary, approximately 2 cm in diameter. Flowers have six white petals and a yellow centre. Closed flowers emerge a few centimetres above water and slowly open by mid-morning. They close and fall back into the water in the late afternoon.
- Fruits – inconspicuous. Consist of 1-4 (usually 3) swollen carpels and are held below water on a curved flower stalk.
- Seeds – oblong, slightly wider at one end with a small cap at the other end. Up to 3 mm long and 1 mm wide, dark when mature with four longitudinal rows of tubercles.
Submerged leaves and stems
Similar Species
Similar species include Limnophila spp, Ceratophyllum demersum (Hornworts), and Myriophyllum spp (Watermilfoils). To compare cabomba with these and other plants, visit our ‘similar species’ page.
