Althenia bilocularis is a plant found in both Australia and New Zealand,[3] in fresh to brackish waters. In Australia it is found in all mainland states with the exception of the Northern Territory.[4] In New Zealand it is found on the North, South and Chatham Islands.[5]
Taxonomy
It was first described as Lepilaena bilocularis by Thomas Kirk in 1896.[1][6]
It was transferred to the genus, Althenia, in 1927 by Leonard Cockayne.[1][2] This change by Cockayne is supported by DNA analyses.[7]
^ ab
Cockayne, L.C. in Speight, R., Wall, A. & Laing, R.M. (ed.) (1927), Ecological botany of the Canterbury Plains. Natural History of Canterbury: 126
^Ito, Yu; Tanaka, Norio; García-Murillo, Pablo; Muasya, A. Muthama (2016). "A new delimitation of the Afro-Eurasian plant genus Althenia to include its Australasian relative, Lepilaena (Potamogetonaceae) – Evidence from DNA and morphological data". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 98: 261–270. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2016.02.008. ISSN1055-7903.
