Limnocharitaceae
Encyclopedia
Limnocharitaceae is the botanical name
of a family
of flowering plants in the monocot order
Alismatales
. It is commonly known
as the water poppy family. They are small, perennial
, aquatic
herbs
, native
to the tropics
, but adventive
or naturalized
in the subtropics
as a result of cultivation
.
Limnocharitaceae consists of three genera
, and these, in turn comprise eight species
. Some of the species are closely related
and, consequently, hard to identify
. Butomopsis is monospecific
(B. latifolia) and indigenous to tropical Africa
, southeast Asia
, and northern Australia
. Limnocharis and Hydrocleys are native to the neotropics. Limnocharis has two species. Limnocharis flava is grown as a potherb
in India
and Isan
, Thailand. It has become a weed
in Indonesia
. It is sometimes sold
as an ornamental
for aquarium
s. Hydrocleys has five species. Hydrocleys nymphoides is common in water garden
s, and probably for this reason, it is persistent in the wild
in Florida
and Texas
.
Perennial
herbs
with unbranched
stems
. Leaves
basal
, petiolate
. Stomata
paracytic. Laticifer
s present. Inflorescence
scapose
, with bract
s subtending each flower. Flower
s actinomorphic, bisexual, solitary or in pseudoumbels
. Sepal
s 3, persistent. Petal
s 3, white
or yellow
. Stamen
s 3 to 100. Ovary
superior. Carpels 3 to 20, in 1 (rarely 2) whorls
, free or basally connate
. Ovule
s 12 to 100 per carpel and scattered over the inner surface. Fruit
a follicle
.
in Limnocharitaceae because of its laminar placentation and follicular fruit, but it is now placed in the monospecific
family Butomaceae.
Limnocharitaceae is closely related to Alismataceae, but differs from it by the fully dehiscent fruit, numerous ovules per carpel, and laminar placentation. Members of both of these families have laticifers, petioles, a terminal pore on each leaf, a sepaloid calyx, and thin, evanescent petals.
Limnocharitaceae was separated
from Alismataceae by Armen Takhtajan
in 1954, but was not validly published
until a Latin diagnosis was supplied by Arthur J. Cronquist in 1981. Limnocharitaceae was recognized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group
in their APG II system
of 2003, but in their APG III system
of 2009, they sank it back into Alismataceae. Some molecular phylogenetic studies
have indicated that Limnocharitaceae might not be monophyletic, but paraphyletic over Alismataceae sensu stricto.
Botanical name
A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar and/or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants...
of a family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
of flowering plants in the monocot order
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
Alismatales
Alismatales
Alismatales is an order of flowering plants including about 2500 species. Pleants assigned to this order are mostly tropical or aquatic.-Description:...
. It is commonly known
Common name
A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...
as the water poppy family. They are small, perennial
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
, aquatic
Aquatic plant
Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments. They are also referred to as hydrophytes or aquatic macrophytes. These plants require special adaptations for living submerged in water, or at the water's surface. Aquatic plants can only grow in water or in soil that is...
herbs
Herbaceous plant
A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...
, native
Indigenous (ecology)
In biogeography, a species is defined as native to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention. Every natural organism has its own natural range of distribution in which it is regarded as native...
to the tropics
Tropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
, but adventive
Adventive species
An Adventive species is one that has arrived in the geographical area specified from somewhere else by any means , but is not self-sustaining and whose numbers are only increased through non-reproductive means, unlike a naturalised species.-See also:*Naturalisation *Introduced species*Invasive...
or naturalized
Naturalisation (biology)
In biology, naturalisation is any process by which a non-native organism spreads into the wild and its reproduction is sufficient to maintain its population. Such populations are said to be naturalised....
in the subtropics
Subtropics
The subtropics are the geographical and climatical zone of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropical zone, which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, at latitudes 23.5°N and 23.5°S...
as a result of cultivation
Gardening
Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants. Ornamental plants are normally grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants are grown for consumption , for their dyes, or for medicinal or cosmetic use...
.
Limnocharitaceae consists of three genera
Genera
Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...
, and these, in turn comprise eight species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
. Some of the species are closely related
Phylogenetic tree
A phylogenetic tree or evolutionary tree is a branching diagram or "tree" showing the inferred evolutionary relationships among various biological species or other entities based upon similarities and differences in their physical and/or genetic characteristics...
and, consequently, hard to identify
Identification (biology)
Identification in biology is the process of assigning a pre-existing individual or class name to an individual organism. Identification of organisms to individual names may be based on individualistic natural body features Identification in biology is the process of assigning a pre-existing...
. Butomopsis is monospecific
Monospecificity
In zoology, "monospecific" is an adjective describing a genus which contains only one known species. The term comes from the Greek prefix "μονο-" meaning "single" and Latin "species" meaning "kind" or "type". It is thus of hybrid origin....
(B. latifolia) and indigenous to tropical Africa
Tropical Africa
Although tropical Africa is most familiar in the West as depicted by its rain forests, this region of Africa is far more diverse. While the tropics are thought of as regions with warm to hot moist climates caused by latitude and the tropical rain belt, the geology of areas, particularly mountain...
, southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, and northern Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Limnocharis and Hydrocleys are native to the neotropics. Limnocharis has two species. Limnocharis flava is grown as a potherb
Leaf vegetable
Leaf vegetables, also called potherbs, green vegetables, greens, leafy greens or salad greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots...
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Isan
Isan
Isan is the northeastern region of Thailand. It is located on the Khorat Plateau, bordered by the Mekong River to the north and east, by Cambodia to the southeast and the Prachinburi mountains south of Nakhon Ratchasima...
, Thailand. It has become a weed
Weed
A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...
in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. It is sometimes sold
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
as an ornamental
Ornamental plant
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...
for aquarium
Aquarium
An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...
s. Hydrocleys has five species. Hydrocleys nymphoides is common in water garden
Water garden
Water gardens, also known as aquatic gardens, are a type of man-made water feature. A water garden is defined as any interior or exterior landscape or architectural element whose primarily purpose is to house, display, or propagate a particular species or variety of aquatic plant...
s, and probably for this reason, it is persistent in the wild
Wilderness
Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with...
in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
.
Genera
- Butomopsis KunthCarl Sigismund KunthCarl Sigismund Kunth , also Karl Sigismund Kunth or anglicized as Charles Sigismund Kunth, was a German botanist...
- Butomopsis latifolia Kunth
- Hydrocleys Richard
- Hydrocleys modesta Pedersen
- Hydrocleys parviflora SeubertMoritz August SeubertMoritz August Seubert was a German botanist.- Life :Seubert was the son of a medical officer of health. He first attended the Lyzeum in Karlsruhe and already at that time had contact with the botanist, Alexander Braun, who interested him in this subject...
- Hydrocleys mattogrossensis ( Kuntze) Holm-Nielsen & Haynes
- Hydrocleys martii Seubert
- Hydrocleys nymphoides ( WilldenowCarl Ludwig WilldenowCarl Ludwig Willdenow was a German botanist, pharmacist, and plant taxonomist. He is considered one of the founders of phytogeography, the study of the geographic distribution of plants...
) BuchenauFranz Georg Philipp BuchenauFranz Georg Philipp Buchenau was a German botanist and phytogeographer who was a native of Kassel. He specialized in flora of northwestern Germany....
- water-poppy
- Limnocharis HumboldtAlexander von HumboldtFriedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt...
& BonplandAimé BonplandAimé Jacques Alexandre Bonpland was a French explorer and botanist.Bonpland's real name was Goujaud, and he was born in La Rochelle, a coastal city in France. After serving as a surgeon in the French army, and studying under J. N...
- Limnocharis laforestii Duchassaing
- Limnocharis flavaLimnocharis flavaLimnocharis flava is a species of aquatic flowering plant which is native to Southeast Asia. It is a roughly 50 cm tall plant growing in clumps....
(L.) Buchenau - sawah-lettuce
Description
The following description is based on two sources.Perennial
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
herbs
Herbaceous plant
A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...
with unbranched
Branch
A branch or tree branch is a woody structural member connected to but not part of the central trunk of a tree...
stems
Plant stem
A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaves, inflorescence , conifer cones, roots, other stems etc. The internodes distance one node from another...
. Leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
basal
Rosette (botany)
In botany, a rosette is a circular arrangement of leaves, with all the leaves at a single height.Though rosettes usually sit near the soil, their structure is an example of a modified stem.-Function:...
, petiolate
Petiole (botany)
In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...
. Stomata
Stoma
In botany, a stoma is a pore, found in the leaf and stem epidermis that is used forgas exchange. The pore is bordered by a pair of specialized parenchyma cells known as guard cells that are responsible for regulating the size of the opening...
paracytic. Laticifer
Laticifer
A laticifer is a type of elongated secretory cell found in the leaves and/or stems of plants that produce latex and rubber as secondary metabolites. Laticifers may be articulated, i.e., composed of a series of cells joined together, or non-articulated, consisting of one long cell...
s present. Inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
scapose
Scape (botany)
In botany, scapes are leafless flowering stems that rise from the ground. Scapes can have a single flower or many flowers, depending on the species....
, with bract
Bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture...
s subtending each flower. Flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s actinomorphic, bisexual, solitary or in pseudoumbels
Umbel
An umbel is an inflorescence which consists of a number of short flower stalks which are equal in length and spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs....
. Sepal
Sepal
A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...
s 3, persistent. Petal
Petal
Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...
s 3, white
White
White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...
or yellow
Yellow
Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...
. Stamen
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...
s 3 to 100. Ovary
Ovary (plants)
In the flowering plants, an ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or gynoecium. Specifically, it is the part of the pistil which holds the ovule and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the base of the petals and sepals...
superior. Carpels 3 to 20, in 1 (rarely 2) whorls
Whorl (botany)
In botany, a whorl is an arrangement of sepals, petals, leaves, or branches in which all the parts are attached at the same point and surround or wrap around the stem.There are four whorls in a general flower...
, free or basally connate
Connation
Connation in plants is the developmental fusion of organs of the same type, for example, petals to one another to form a tubular corolla. This is in contrast to adnation, the fusion of dissimilar organs.-Terms for connation of flower parts:...
. Ovule
Ovule
Ovule means "small egg". In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: The integument forming its outer layer, the nucellus , and the megaspore-derived female gametophyte in its center...
s 12 to 100 per carpel and scattered over the inner surface. Fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
a follicle
Follicle (fruit)
In botany, a follicle is a dry unilocular many-seeded fruit formed from one carpel and dehiscing by the ventral suture in order to release seeds, such as in larkspur, magnolia, banksia, peony and milkweed....
.
Taxonomy
Some authors have placed ButomusButomus
Butomus is the sole genus in the monogeneric plant family Butomaceae, containing the single species Butomus umbellatus, also known as flowering rush or grass rush.-Description:...
in Limnocharitaceae because of its laminar placentation and follicular fruit, but it is now placed in the monospecific
Monospecificity
In zoology, "monospecific" is an adjective describing a genus which contains only one known species. The term comes from the Greek prefix "μονο-" meaning "single" and Latin "species" meaning "kind" or "type". It is thus of hybrid origin....
family Butomaceae.
Limnocharitaceae is closely related to Alismataceae, but differs from it by the fully dehiscent fruit, numerous ovules per carpel, and laminar placentation. Members of both of these families have laticifers, petioles, a terminal pore on each leaf, a sepaloid calyx, and thin, evanescent petals.
Limnocharitaceae was separated
Segregate (taxonomy)
In taxonomy, a segregate, or a segregate taxon is created when a taxon is split off, from another taxon. This other taxon will be better known, usually bigger, and will continue to exist, even after the segregate taxon has been split off...
from Alismataceae by Armen Takhtajan
Armen Takhtajan
Armen Leonovich Takhtajan or Takhtajian , was a Soviet-Armenian botanist, one of the most important figures in 20th century plant evolution and systematics and biogeography. His other interests included morphology of flowering plants, paleobotany, and the flora of the Caucasus...
in 1954, but was not validly published
Correct name (botany)
In botany, the correct name according to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature is the one and only botanical name that is to be used for a particular taxon, when that taxon has a particular circumscription, position and rank. Determining whether a name is correct is a complex procedure...
until a Latin diagnosis was supplied by Arthur J. Cronquist in 1981. Limnocharitaceae was recognized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group
Angiosperm Phylogeny Group
The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, or APG, refers to an informal international group of systematic botanists who came together to try to establish a consensus on the taxonomy of flowering plants that would reflect new knowledge about plant relationships discovered through phylogenetic studies., three...
in their APG II system
APG II system
The APG II system of plant classification is the second, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy that was published in April 2003 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. It was a revision of the first APG system, published in 1998, and was superseded in 2009...
of 2003, but in their APG III system
APG III system
The APG III system of flowering plant classification is the third version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy...
of 2009, they sank it back into Alismataceae. Some molecular phylogenetic studies
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
have indicated that Limnocharitaceae might not be monophyletic, but paraphyletic over Alismataceae sensu stricto.
External links
- Limnocharitaceae At: Volume 22 At: FNA At: eFloras.org
- Limnocharitaceae in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). *The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval. Version: 9 March 2006. http://delta-intkey.com
- NCBI Taxonomy Browser
- Links at CSDL, Texas