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Synonyms: Heterantheraceae J. Agardh
Common name: Water-hyacinth Family.
Number of genera 6. Number of species 29.
Angiosperm. Liliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or an intact or entire fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) simple, or compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united (or not). Fruit pericarpium, or anthocarp; simple; capsule, or urticle (of authors, but not Spjut); fissuricidal capsule, or loculicidal ascade (of authors, but not Spjut); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; simple; diclesium (Reussia, Pontederia); without persistent central column; with styles(s); at apex; within accessory organ(s); within perianth (tube for diclesium of Pontederia & Reussia), or tepals; accrescent; persistent; tepals (or perianth or sepals) not smooth; tepals (or perianth or sepals) tubercles, or reticulations, or papillae, or ridges, or rough surface; tepals (or perianth or sepals) not forming wings; 1-seeded to many-seeded; Pontederia 1-seeded (to many-seeded for capsules); less than 1 cm long to from 1–5 cm long; 0.8–1 cm long; 3-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; with carpels not radiating at maturity; with carpels remaining connected at style; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; apex not beaked; wall membranaceous; capsule dehiscent, or indehiscent (diclesium). Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent passively; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; thin; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; smooth; without wing; without operculum; without secretory cavities; without mechanism for seedling escape; without grooves; without longitudinal ridges. Funiculus short; short without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril absent. Seed ovate, or reniform; in transection terete; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; with markedly different marginal tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; surface Pontederia smooth, or unsmooth; surface with merged raised features; surface ribbed, or ridged (longitudinally for both), or tessellate (all from capsule fruits); without crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle; without notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approach each other; without glands; without bristles; glabrous; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; red; thin; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Hilum punctate. Raphe conspicuous, or inconspicuous (filiform); texture as testa (assumed); shorter than seed; included in dehisced fruit. Endosperm development initially helobial and cellular (finally); copious; floury, or mealy; smooth; with starch; with starch composed of solitary grains; with simple starch grains; without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; with more or less isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); 1 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; linear; straight; parallel to seed length; embedded in perisperm; with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleoptile; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 1 cotyledon. Cotyledons one and terminal with lateral plumule; not modified into scutellum; not circinately coiled. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan. New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Notes
Embryo 5–7.8 times longer than wide.
Weed information
1 or more USA Federal noxious weeds, 1 or more USA state noxious weeds.
USA Federal noxious weeds: -- Eichhornia azurea (Sw.) Kunth: USA Federal Noxious Weedª; USA state noxious weed: ALª, ARª, AZª, MAª, NCª, OKª, SCª, TXª. -- Monochoria hastata (L.) Solms: USA Federal Noxious Weedª; USA state noxious weed: FLª, MAª, NCª, OKª, SCª, TXª. -- Monochoria vaginalis (Burm. f.) C. Presl ex Kunth: USA Federal Noxious Weedª; USA state noxious weed: FLª, MAª, NCª, SCª, TXª. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
USA states and territories with listed noxious weeds: Alabama (AL), Arizona (AZ), Arkansas (AR), California (CA), Florida (FL), Massachusetts (MA), North Carolina (NC), Oklahoma (OK), Puerto Rico (PR), South Carolina (SC), Texas (TX).
USA state and territory noxious weeds: -- Eichhornia azurea (Sw.) Kunth: USA Federal Noxious Weedª; USA state noxious weed: ALª, ARª, AZª, MAª, NCª, OKª, SCª, TXª. -- Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms: USA state noxious weed: ALª●, CAª, PRª, SCª, TXª. -- Eichhornia spp.: USA state noxious weed: FLª, PRª. -- Monochoria hastata (L.) Solms: USA Federal Noxious Weedª; USA state noxious weed: FLª, MAª, NCª, OKª, SCª, TXª. -- Monochoria vaginalis (Burm. f.) C. Presl ex Kunth: USA Federal Noxious Weedª; USA state noxious weed: FLª, MAª, NCª, SCª, TXª. -- Pontederia cordata L.: USA state noxious weed: PRª. -- Pontederia rotundifolia L. f.: USA state noxious weed: FLª. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
Listed seeds
ASOA listed seeds, ISTA listed seeds.
ASOA listed seeds: -- Eichhornia azurea (Sw.) Kunth -- Monochoria hastata (L.) Solms -- Monochoria vaginalis (Burm. f.) C. Presl ex Kunth -- Last updated September 2008.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Eichhornia azurea (Sw.) Kunthw -- Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solmsw -- Monochoria hastata (L.) Solmsw -- Monochoria vaginalis (Burm. f.) C. Presl ex Kunthw -- Symbols: aagricultural and vegetable seeds (Table 2A Part 1); ttree and shrub species (Table 2A Part 2); fflower, spice, herb, and medicinal seeds (Table 2A Part 3); wweed seeds. -- Last updated September 2008.
Accepted genera
Eichhornia Kunth, nom. cons. -- Heteranthera Ruiz & Pav., nom. cons. -- Hydrothrix Hook. f. -- Monochoria C. Presl -- Pontederia L. -- Scholleropsis H. Perrier
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 1202. Rosatti, T.J. 1987. The genera of Pontederiaceae in the southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 68:35–71.
General references
Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, Dahlgren, R.M.T., H.T. Clifford and P.F. Yeo. 1985. The families of the monocotyledons, 520 pp. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Flora of Australia (various years and volumes). Australian Government Publication, Canberra, Goldberg, A. 1986 (dicots) and 1989 (monocots). Classification, evolution, and phylogeny of the familes of Dicotyledons. Smithsonian Contr. Bot. 58 for dicots (314 pp.) and 71 for monocots (74 pp.). [Goldberg's illustrations are reproduced from older publications and these should be consulted], Gunn, C.R. and C.A. Ritchie. 1988. Identification of disseminules listed in the Federal Noxious Weed Act. Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A. 1719:1–313, Gunn, C.R., J.H. Wiersema, C.A. Ritchie, and J.H. Kirkbride, Jr. 1992 and amendments. Families and genera of Spermatophytes recognized by the Agricultural Research Service. Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A. 1796:1–500, Mabberley, D.J. 1987. The plant-book, 706 p. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Martin, A.C. 1946. The comparative internal morphology of seeds. Amer. Midl. Naturalist 36:513–660, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and no seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Cronquist, Rosatti (1987), Dahlgren et al., LeMaout & Decaisne. Seed illustration(s): Dahlgren et al., Flora Australia vol. 45, Gunn & Ritchie. Embryo illustration(s): Dahlgren et al., LeMaout & Decaisne, Gunn & Ritchie, Martin.
• Fruit. 1 of 9. Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms: dehisced fruit. • Seed. 2 of 9. Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms: seeds. • Fruit. 3 of 9. Monochoria vaginalis (Burm. f.) C. Presl ex Kunth: fruit with calyx. • Seed. 4 of 9. Monochoria vaginalis (Burm. f.) C. Presl ex Kunth: seeds. • Fruit. 5 of 9. Pontederia cordata L.: fruit. • Seed. 6 of 9. Pontederia cordata L.: seeds. • Embryo. 7 of 9. Eichornia azurea (Sw.) Kunth: embryo. • Embryo. 8 of 9. Monochoria hastata (L.) Solms: embryo. • Embryo. 9 of 9. Monochoria vaginalis (Burm. f.) C. Presl ex Kunth: embryo.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘J.H. Kirkbride, Jr., C.R. Gunn, and M.J. Dallwitz. 2000 onwards. Family guide for fruits and seeds: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 12th April 2021. delta-intkey.com’.
