Cabomba caroliniana var. caroliniana is a variety of the species Cabomba carolinianaCabomba caroliniana var. caroliniana. (n.d.-c). WFO Plant List. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://wfoplantlist.org/taxon/wfo-0000705188-2025-06?page=1Cabomba caroliniana var. caroliniana. (n.d.-b). GBIF | Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://www.gbif.org/species/7096647 in the family Cabombaceae native to the regions spanning from central and eastern USA to northeast Mexico, and Brazil to Central Argentina.
Description Vegetative characteristics Cabomba caroliniana var. caroliniana is an aquatic,Wood, B. (n.d.). Cabomba caroliniana. Plants of South Eastern New South Wales. Retrieved July 23, 2025, from https://apps.lucidcentral.org/plants_se_nsw/text/entities/cabomba_caroliniana.htm perennial herbCabomba caroliniana A. Gray var. caroliniana. (n.d.). USDA Plants Database. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/plant-profile/CACAC4 with green to reddish brown, branched, up to 10 m long, and 1–2 mm wide stems. The petiolate, fan-shaped, dichotomously or trichotomously divided submerged leaves with slim, linear lamina segmentsT.D. Stanley, A.E. Orchard, P.G. Kodela. Cabomba caroliniana var. caroliniana, in P.G. Kodela (ed.), Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Cabomba%20caroliniana%20var.%20caroliniana [Date Accessed: 26 June 2025] are 6–7 cm wide. The relatively few, narrowly elliptic, peltate, green floating leaves are 5–20 mm long, and 1–3 mm wide. Floating leaves may be absent entirely. Generative characteristics The solitary, pedicellate, white, 6–15 mm wide flowers float on the water surface, or extend 2–4 cm above it. The flowers have three white or cream, obovate to elliptic, 5–12 mm long, and 2–7 mm wide sepals. The three white or cream, elliptic-obovate petals are 4–12 mm long, and 2–5 mm wide. The androecium consists of 6 stamens with 4 mm long filaments.Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. (n.d.). Cabomba caroliniana var. caroliniana. VicFlora Flora of Victoria. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/e29e2172-31c0-438e-9151-61174823a5a7 The gynoecium consists of 2–4 carpels. The fruit with a recurved pedicel bears ellipsoid-oblong to ovate, 1.5–3 mm long, and 1–1.5 mm wide seeds. Cytology The chromosome count is 2n = ca. 78, ca. 104.Cabomba caroliniana var. caroliniana. (n.d.-d). e-Flora of Thailand. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://botany.dnp.go.th/eflora/florainfra.html?tdcode=07015
Taxonomy It is an autonym.Missouri Botanical Garden. (n.d.). Cabomba caroliniana A. Gray var. caroliniana. Tropicos. Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://www.tropicos.org/name/22600266Cabomba caroliniana A.Gray var. caroliniana. (n.d.). Australian National Species List (auNSL). Retrieved June 25, 2025, from https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/202719 Some sources regard the variety Cabomba caroliniana var. pulcherrima as synonymous to Cabomba caroliniana var. caroliniana.USDA, Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System. 2025. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN Taxonomy). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL: https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=416937. Accessed 25 June 2025.U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. (2015, March). Carolina Fanwort (Cabomba caroliniana) Ecological Risk Screening Summary. Etymology The varietal name caroliniana means from the Carolinas.Sonday, B., Bradtke, J., Burnham, R. J., & University of Michigan. (n.d.). Vicia caroliniana Walter. CLIMBERS Censusing Lianas in Mesic Biomes of Eastern Regions. Retrieved July 23, 2025, from https://climbers.lsa.umich.edu/vicia-caroliniana/
Distribution and habitat It is native to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay, and the USA. It has been introduced to Australia, Austria, China, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Serbia,Vukov, D., Jurca, T., Rućando, M., Igić, R., & Miljanović, B. (2013). Cabomba caroliniana A. Gray 1837: A new, alien and potentially invasive species in Serbia. Archives of Biological Sciences, 65(4), 1515-1520. Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, and the UK.
Ecology The flowers are insect-pollinated.Jacobs, M. (2008). Predicting spread of the invasive macrophyte Cabomba caroliniana in Ontario.
Cultivation It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in aquariaCabomba caroliniana var. caroliniana - Karolina-Haarnixe. (n.d.). Flowgrow. Retrieved June 26, 2025, from https://www.flowgrow.de/db/wasserpflanzen/cabomba-caroliniana-var-caroliniana and in ponds.
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