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Family:
Alismataceae
[= Limnocharitaceae]
Life
> eukaryotes >
Archaeoplastida >
Chloroplastida
>
Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants)
> Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants)
> Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering
plants)
> Monocotyledons > Order: Alismatales
About 12 genera and 81 species (mainly northern
hemisphere in tropics and subtropics), with five genera and seven species native to southern Africa . In addition, there is one genus and species naturalised, and three genera and
four species cultivated in southern Africa. Aquatic or marsh herbs.
Genera native to southern Africa
List from
Plants
of Southern Africa - an Online Checklist (SANBI) and
Flora of
Zimbabwe.
Burnatia One species: Burnatia enneandra, native to
tropical and southern Africa. |
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Butomopsis latifolia
One species native to southern Africa (Okavango delta, Botswana) - Butomopsis latifolia.
Previously placed in Limnocharitaceae. |
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Caldesia Four species (Europe, SE Asia, Australia and Africa),
with one species, Caldesia reniformis, native to southern Africa
(Okavango Delta). |
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Limnophyton Four species (tropical Africa, SE Asia and Australia),
with two species, Lymnophyton obtusifolium and Lymnophyton
angolense, native to southern Africa. |
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Wiesneria
[= Wisneria]
Three species (SW India, tropical and subtropical Africa,
Madagascar), with two species, Wiesneria schweinfurthii and
Wiesneria filifolia (recorded from Zimbabwe), native to
southern Africa |
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Genera naturalised in southern Africa
Informationi from Glen (2000) and
Flora of
Zimbabwe.
Alisma Nine species (northern hemisphere), with one species,
Alisma plantago-aquatica (Common water-plantain), naturalised
in southern Africa. |
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Other genera, cultivated in southern Africa
List from Glen (2002).
Echinodorus Echinodorus subalatus (Long-styled toadspoon),
native from Mexico to Brazil, is cultivated in southern Africa.
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Hydrocleys nymphoides (Water
poppy) Native to tropical America. Previously placed in Limnocharitaceae. |
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Sagittaria Sagittaria lancifolia (native
from USA to
South America) and Sagittaria sagittifolia (Arrowhead; native to
Eurasia), are cultivated in southern Africa. |
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Publications
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Glen, H.F. 2000. Alismataceae. In: Seed Plants of
Southern Africa (ed. O.A. Leistner). Strelitzia 10: 567-568 .
National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
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Glen, H.F. 2002. Cultivated Plants of
Southern Africa. Jacana, Johannesburg.
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