Zosteraceae

• Authority

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

• Family

  Zosteraceae

• Scientific Name

  Zosteraceae

• Description

  Family Description - Fls small and inconspicuous, hydrophilous, unisexual, arranged in 2 rows on one side of a flattened spadix subtended (and often largely enclosed by) a spathe, the axis of the spadix often with a series of ± well developed marginal lobes or appendages (retinacula) that fold over and ± cover the fls, the fls otherwise bractless and without perianth; stamen solitary; anther sessile, tetrasporangiate and dithecal; pollen filamentous, up to 2 mm, without exine; ovary solitary, bicarpellate, unilocular, with a single apical, pendulous ovule and 2 basally connate styles; fr small, drupaceous or firm and eventually opening irregularly; endosperm wanting; embryo with a basally closed and sheathing cotyledon lying in the groove of an enlarged hypocotyl; glabrous, rhizomatous, perennial marine herbs; lvs alternate, commonly distichous, parallel-veined or with only a midrib, generally ligulate at the juncture of the sheath and narrow blade. 3/15–20.

• Common Names

  The eel-grass family