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Family:
Alismataceae
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 four genera and four species
indigenous to southern Africa. In addition, there is one genus and species
naturalised, and two genera and two species cultivated in southern Africa. Aquatic or marsh herbs.
Genera indigenous or naturalised in southern Africa
List from Glen (2000).
* Alisma Nine species (northern hemisphere), with one species,
Alisma plantago-aquatica (Common water-plantain), naturalised in
southern Africa. |
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Burnatia One species: Burnatia enneandra, indigenous to
tropical and southern Africa. |
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Caldesia Four species (Europe, SE Asia, Australia and Africa),
with one species, Caldesia reniformis, indigenous in southern Africa
(Okavango Delta). |
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Limnophyton Four species (tropical Africa, SE Asia and Australia), of
which one, Lymnophyton obtusifolium, is indigenous in southern
Africa. |
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Wiesneria
[= Wisneria]
Three species (SW India, tropical and subtropical Africa,
Madagascar), of which one, Wiesneria schweinfurthii, is indigenous in
southern Africa |
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Exotic genera cultivated in southern Africa
List from Glen (2002).
Echinodorus Echinodorus subalatus (Long-styled toadspoon),
indigenous from Mexico to Brazil, is cultivated in southern Africa.
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Sagittaria Sagittaria lancifolia (indigenous from USA to
South America) and Sagittaria sagittifolia (Arrowhead; indigenous in
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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