Southern Hornwort
Ceratophyllum australe
Also listed as Ceratophyllum muricatum subsp. australe
Found in ponds, pools, slow-moving streams, solution holes in pine rocklands. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 71%
- Light
- Partial shade, Full shade
- Soil moisture
- Dry
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
- Bloom
- May to September
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Life cycle · Leaves
Height: NC species account not read yet.
Spread, life cycle and leaves: no source found yet.
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 5 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

Streams, rivers and their banks
Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.
Who uses this plant?
9BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Ceratophyllum
- Agelaius phoeniceusRed-winged Blackbird
- Anas platyrhynchosMallard
- Aythya affinisLesser Scaup
- Aythya collarisRing-necked Duck
- Cygnus olorMute Swan
- Fulica americanaAmerican Coot
- Gallinula galeataCommon Gallinule
- Mareca streperaGadwall
- Spatula clypeataNorthern Shoveler
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Ceratophyllaceae
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “May to September” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Light · “Partial shade; Full shade (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Soil · “Dry (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
Also known as
Ceratophyllum muricatum subsp. australe
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5TNR [G5] |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications

