Spermatophyta: Monocotyledonae: Commelinales

Pontederiaceae - Water hyacinth family

Catarino, L. & Martins, E.S. (2010) Pontederiaceae Flora Zambesiaca 13(2) 69-76

Obermeyer, A.A. (1985) Pontederiaceae Flora of Southern Africa 4(2)

Description of the family

Aquatic herbs, rooted or free-floating. Leaves spirally arranged, sheathing at base, often dimorphic: emergent leaves with a long, sometimes swollen, petiole and a spathulate, circular or ovate, cordate or hastate, lamina; submerged leaves linear. Inflorescence racemose or spicate. Bracts 0. Flowers bisexual. Perianth of 6 parts, in 2 series, united in a tube below, petaloid. Stamens (1-)3-6, dimorphic. Ovary superior, (1-)3-locular, with 1-many ovules. Fruit a capsule or nut (Pontederia).

Worldwide: 6 genera and 32 species, tropical and warm areas (especially America) with a few in the N temperate zones.

Botswana: 2 genera and 2 taxa.

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Links to genera: View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this family

Genus	Content
Eichhornia Kunth	Description
Heteranthera Ruiz. & Pav.	Description, Image

Other sources of information about Pontederiaceae:

Our websites:

Flora of Burundi: Pontederiaceae
Flora of Caprivi: Pontederiaceae
Flora of the DRC: Pontederiaceae
Flora of Malawi: Pontederiaceae
Flora of Mozambique: Pontederiaceae
Flora of Rwanda: Pontederiaceae
Flora of Zambia: Pontederiaceae
Flora of Zimbabwe: Pontederiaceae
Flora of Zimbabwe: cultivated Pontederiaceae

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Pontederiaceae
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Pontederiaceae
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Pontederiaceae
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Pontederiaceae
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Pontederiaceae
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Pontederiaceae
JSTOR Plant Science: Pontederiaceae
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Pontederiaceae
Wikipedia: Pontederiaceae
Plants of the World Online: Pontederiaceae
Tropicos: Pontederiaceae