Wildflower (forb) · Callitrichaceae
Twoheaded water-starwort
Callitriche heterophylla · includes its varieties and subspecies
Twoheaded water-starwort is recorded as native to 44 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 837 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Twoheaded water-starwort at a glance
- Native in
- 837 counties, across 44 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- Not recorded PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Twoheaded water-starwort is recorded as native to 44 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 837 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 837 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 2 counties
- Alaska 11 counties
- Arizona 7 counties
- Arkansas 32 counties
- California 32 counties
- Colorado 3 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 8 counties
- Georgia 25 counties
- Idaho 2 counties
- Illinois 35 counties
- Indiana 19 counties
- Iowa 1 county
- Kansas 17 counties
- Kentucky 20 counties
- Louisiana 42 counties
- Maine 12 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Minnesota 8 counties
- Mississippi 6 counties
- Missouri 54 counties
- Montana 3 counties
- Nevada 2 counties
- New Hampshire 8 counties
- New Jersey 16 counties
- New Mexico 6 counties
- New York 29 counties
- North Carolina 48 counties
- Ohio 36 counties
- Oklahoma 16 counties
- Oregon 21 counties
- Pennsylvania 57 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Carolina 27 counties
- Tennessee 37 counties
- Texas 51 counties
- Vermont 7 counties
- Virginia 73 counties
- Washington 14 counties
- West Virginia 16 counties
- Wisconsin 10 counties
- Wyoming 3 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Annual, Perennial
- Mature height
- Not recorded
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Crown
- Shape
- Decumbent
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring, Summer, Fall
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- Not recorded
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 5.2 to 6.8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- Not recorded
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 80
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Green
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Callitrichaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CAHE3
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Callitriche heterophylla (PLANTS symbol CAHE3), including 1 variety or subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources