POTAMOGETONACEAE
Morphological description
Submerged aquatic plants, with a rhizome; usually herbaceous. Sometimes rhizome woody, erect (Thalassodendron).
Leaves
Leaves simple with parallel nerves and cross veins, leaf base sheathing.
Inflorescence
Inflorescence.
Flowers
Flowers naked, ovary superior; usually anthers sessile.
Fruit
Fruit a drupe.
Seed
Seed.
Different from: Hydrocharitaceae: leaf base not sheathing.
Distribution: The family is cosmopolitan. In Malesia 7 genera, including : - Cymodocea (Old World), marine plants; - Halodule (pantropical), marine plants; - Potamogeton (cosmopolitan), freshwater plants.
Notes: Several genera have been placed in separate families.
Literature: C.A. Backer & R.C. Bakhuizen van den Brink, Fl. Java 3 (1968) 8-10; C. den Hartog, The sea grasses of the world, Verh. Kon. Ned. Akad. Wet. Afd. Na-tuurk. 2, 59, 1 (1970) 275 pp.; Fl. Males. I, 16 (2002) 167-216.
Spot characters (Van Balgooy): nr.
Illustrations: Fig. 150. Cymodocea rotundata Ehrenb. & Hempr. ex Aschers. (Potamogetonaceae). Habit; fruit. Reproduced from Flora Malesiana I, 16 (in prep.). Fig. 151. Potamogeton octandrus Poir. (Potamogetonaceae). 1. Floating leaf and flowering branch; 2. submersed leafy branch; 3. floating leaf; 4. submersed leaf; 5. flower; 6. perianth and stamen; 7. stamen; 8. carpel. Reproduced from Flora of Taiwan 5 (1978) 29, pl. 1274. Courtesy Dr. Yuen-Po Yang, Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan.
Image in PhytoImages for Potamogetonaceae