Villarsia is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of aquatic flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

s in the family Menyanthaceae

Menyanthaceae

Menyanthaceae are a family of aquatic and wetland plants in the order Asterales. There are approximately 60-70 species in five genera distributed worldwide. The simple or compound leaves arise alternately from a creeping rhizome. In the submersed aquatic genus Nymphoides, leaves are floating and...

. The genus is named for the French botanist Dominique Villars

Dominique Villars

Dominique Villars or Villar is a French botanist. His main work is Histoire des plantes du Dauphiné published between 1786 to 1789, in which about 2,700 species are described, after over twenty years of observation...

 (1745-1814). Villarsia are wetland plants with basal leaves. The 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...

 is a branched panicle

Panicle

A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....

 with numerous flowers. Flowers are five-parted, either yellow or white, and the petals are adorned with wings.

Villarsia is largely restricted to Australia, but some species are found in Southeast Asia, and V. capensis and others exist in South Africa. The geographic distribution of species is given below:

South Africa:

• Villarsia capensis (Houtt.) Merr.
• Villarsia goldblattiana Ornduff
• Villarsia manningiana Ornduff

Southeast Asia:

• Villarsia cambodiana Hance (synonym: V. rhomboidalis Dop)

Eastern Australia:

• Villarsia exaltata (Sol. ex Sims) G.Don
• Villarsia reniformis R.Br.
• Villarsia umbricola Aston

Western Australia:

• Villarsia albiflora F.Muell.
• Villarsia calthifolia F.Muell.
• Villarsia capitata Nees
• Villarsia congestiflora F.Muell.
• Villarsia lasiosperma F.Muell.
• Villarsia latifolia Benth.
• Villarsia marchantii Ornduff
• Villarsia parnassifolia (Labill.) R.Br.
• Villarsia submersa Aston
• Villarsia violifolia F.Muell.