Pontederiaceae

  • Authority

    Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

  • Family

    Pontederiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Pontederiaceae

  • Description

    Family Description - Fls perfect, regular or irregular; perianth of 6 petaloid tep in 2 series, these usually connate at base to form a perianth-tube; stamens 3–6; filaments adnate to the perianth-tube; ovary superior, trilocular with axile placentas, or unilocular with intruded parietal placentas, or with 2 reduced, empty locules and a single fertile locule, containing a solitary, terminal, pendulous ovule; fr a loculicidal capsule, or dry, 1-seeded, and indehiscent; embryo cylindric, with a terminal cotyledon, surrounded by the copious, starchy, mealy endosperm; glabrous, aquatic or semi-aquatic herbs, free-floating or rooted in the substrate, the lvs mostly with a sheath, a distinct (sometimes inflated) petiole, and an expanded, floating or emersed blade with parallel, curved-convergent veins, or sometimes linear and virtually sheathless; infl terminal and subtended by a generally bladeless sheath, the fls usually in racemes or spikes or panicles, seldom solitary. 9/30, mainly trop. and subtrop.

  • Common Names

    The water-hyacinth family