Aponogeton

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Aponogeton
Temporal range: Campanian–Recent
Aponogeton distachyos, blom, Manie van der Schijff BT, a.jpg
A. distachyos , foliage and
inflorescence at water surface
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Alismatales
Family: Aponogetonaceae
Planch. [1]
Genus: Aponogeton
L.f.
Species

See text

Aponogeton range.jpg

The Aponogetonaceae (the Cape-pondweed family or aponogeton family) are a family of flowering plants in the order Alismatales.

Contents

In recent decades the family has had universal recognition by taxonomists. [2] The APG system (1998) and APG II system (2003) treat it in the order Alismatales in the clade monocots. The family consists of only one genus, Aponogeton, with 56 known species (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 [3] ) of aquatic plants, most of which have been included in a molecular phylogeny by Chen et al. (2015). The name was published in Supplementum Plantarum 32: 214 (1782) and is derived from a geographic location neighboring (geton) the Apono tribal district of coastal Gabon. [4] Some species are used as ornamental plants in aquariums.

Distribution

They are aquatic plants, which are found in tropical to warm temperate regions of Africa, Asia and Australasia. [5]

Aponogeton distachyos is originally from South Africa but has become naturalised in South Australia, Western South America, and Western Europe.

Individual plants are not always easy to identify due to hybridization (particularly those sold as A. crispus - which are often cultivated hybrids with A. natans or A. rigidifolius).

Generally an Aponogeton from Asia will have a single bloom stalk, while those from African heritage (including Madagascar) will have multiple blooming stems on the same flower stalk.

Even though seventeen species are found in Africa, only one of them, A. distachyos, has been continuously maintained as a plant in garden ponds. Several of the eleven Madagascan species have been introduced as new aquarium plants in the early 21st century. At present, the following plants from Madagascar are in culture: Aponogeton boivinianus , A. longiplumulosus , A. madagascariensis and A. ulvaceus . Additionally, Aponogeton bernierianus , A. capuronii , A. decaryi and A. tenuispicatus have been imported on several occasions but have not achieved any wider distribution because they are difficult to maintain. From the sixteen representatives of this genus from Asia and Australia, A. crispus , A. elongatus , A. rigidifolius , A. robinsonii and A. undulatus are useful aquarium plants. Aponogeton jacobensii , A. natans and A. loriae , too, were cultivated several times but have not proven themselves under aquarium conditions.

Evolution

The oldest known fossils of the genus are pollen from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of Wyoming in North America, approximately 82-84 million years old. Other fossil Aponogeton pollen is known from Canada and Greenland, dating to the Eocene, approximately 46 and 44-40 million years old respectively, indicating that the genus likely originated in the Northern Hemisphere. [6]

Ecology

A. distachyos, habit, showing aerial and submerged parts Aponogeton distachyon drawing.png
A. distachyos, habit, showing aerial and submerged parts

Many species grow in temporarily still or flowing waters and live through the dry period as a dormant tuber. They are fully aquatic herbaceous plants with milky sap, becoming dormant during drought conditions. Most species grow from tubers. Most Asian species remain submerged all year round, while the starchy tubercles of the African species are able to survive the dry season by shedding their leaves and undergoing a dormant period.

Almost all Aponogeton species go through resting and growth phases in their natural locations, triggered by the local ecological conditions. During growth periods, the plant will deposit proteins, fats, carbohydrates and mineral substances in the storage rhizome or tuber During the resting period, the tuber survives in the soil in order to again sprout during the following vegetation period. Tubers in Aponogeton species have a high resistance to drying out. This ability to store water is exploited, for instance, in the annual export of thousands of dormant A. crispus specimens, shipped in large bags in a totally dry state.

Economic uses

The tubers of several species are eaten by humans and their livestock. Some are grown as ornamental plants in aquariums or ponds. The 1889 book 'The Useful Native Plants of Australia' records that "The tuberous roots of these water-plants are starchy, and of excellent taste, though not large". [7]

Cultivation

An African Aponogeton with a triple flower spike. AponogetonBloom.jpg
An African Aponogeton with a triple flower spike.

All Aponogeton species are easy to grow when their preferences are met. The Madagascar lace plants (A. madagascarensis) require special handling as they prefer cooler water – 70 °F (21 °C) as a maximum[ citation needed ]. As of 2010, the Australian species exist in very small numbers in the hobby trade.

Rest periods

The African species in particular, (with the exception of A. rigidifolius, which has a rhizome and not a tuber), experience a natural rest period, corresponding to their habitat drying out in the wild. The Asian species may also have a rest period, but this is related only to temperature. As the plant stops growing, it can be taken out of the pond or aquarium and put in a bowl of damp sand. Keep the bowl in a dark, cool place, with the sand kept damp, for approximately 2–3 months at a temperature of about 50–64 °F (10–18 °C), until small leaves are seen to sprout from the tuber, when they can be returned to the pond or aquarium. [8]

Selected species

Sources: [2] [9] [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alismatales</span> Order of herbaceous flowering plants of marshy and aquatic habitats

The Alismatales (alismatids) are an order of flowering plants including about 4,500 species. Plants assigned to this order are mostly tropical or aquatic. Some grow in fresh water, some in marine habitats. Perhaps the most important food crop in the order is the taro plant, Colocasia esculenta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potamogetonaceae</span> Family of aquatic plants

The Potamogetonaceae, commonly referred to as the pondweed family, is an aquatic family of monocotyledonous flowering plants. The roughly 110 known species are divided over six genera. The largest genus in the family by far is Potamogeton, which contains about 100 species.

<i>Aponogeton madagascariensis</i> Species of aquatic plant

Aponogeton madagascariensis is commonly known as Madagascar laceleaf, lattice leaf or lace plant. It is an aquatic plant native to Madagascar, popularly sold for use in aquariums.

<i>Potamogeton</i> Genus of aquatic plants

Potamogeton is a genus of aquatic, mostly freshwater, plants of the family Potamogetonaceae. Most are known by the common name pondweed, although many unrelated plants may be called pondweed, such as Canadian pondweed. The genus name means "river neighbor", originating from the Greek potamos (river) and geiton (neighbor).

<i>Aponogeton distachyos</i> Species of aquatic plant endemic to South Africa

Aponogeton distachyos or Aponogeton distachyum, also known as waterblommetjie, Cape-pondweed, water hawthorn, vleikos and Cape pond weed is an aquatic flowering plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Najadales</span> Order of flowering plants

Najadales is the botanical name of an order of flowering plants. A well-known system that used this name is the Cronquist system (1981), which used this name for an order in subclass Alismatidae with this circumscription:

<i>Aponogeton crispus</i> Species of aquatic plant

Aponogeton crispus, the crinkled aponogeton or ruffled sword plant, is an aquatic plant species in the family Aponogetonaceae.

Aponogeton azureus is a species of plant in the Aponogetonaceae family. It is endemic to Namibia. Its natural habitat is freshwater marshes. It is threatened by habitat loss.

<i>Aponogeton ulvaceus</i> Species of aquatic plant

Aponogeton ulvaceus is a submerged aquatic plant in the Aponogetonaceae family. It has a small cone shaped, slightly hairy rhizome about 30 mm in diameter. The leaf blades have a base that tapers gradually, pale green in colour, over 50 cm (20 in) long and 8 cm (3 in) broad, with a wavy margin on petioles of an equal length, and in appearance slightly translucent. A single bulb may produce up to forty leaves in good conditions. No floating leaves are formed. The yellow flowers are produced on one or two, and sometimes more, erect spikes.

Aponogeton longiplumulosus is a submerged aquatic plant that is native to Madagascar. It possesses an elongated rhizome 2–3 cm in diameter. The leaves are an olive green-brown, 8 - 14 inches (20–35 cm) long and 2.5 inches (6 cm) broad, with a fluted margin and a petiole up to about 24 inches (60 cm) long. No floating leaves are formed. New leaf colour forms have been introduced recently. The flowers are a dark violet in colour.

Aponogeton boivinianus is a species of flowering plant in the Aponogetonaceae family. It is Native to Madagascar

<i>Aponogeton rigidifolius</i> Species of aquatic plant

Aponogeton rigidifolius is a species of freshwater plant native to Sri Lanka. In the wild it grows in deep water at temperatures of 68 to 77 °F in sandy soil with the water pH at 7.2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry van Bruggen</span> Dutch botanist

Heinrich (Harry) Wilhelm Eduard van Bruggen was a Dutch amateur botanist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aponogeton bernierianus</span> Species of aquatic plant

Aponogeton bernerianus is an aquatic plant from eastern Madagascar. It has a 3 cm thick tuber or thick and branchy rhizome. Leaf blade up to 13 cm petiolate, strap-shaped, highly bullate and undulate, up to 50(-120) cm long and 1.5-6.5(-10) cm wide, dark green coloration. Peduncle up to 75 cm long, tapering towards the inflorescence. Spathe up to 15 mm long, caducous. Inflorescence with 3-15 up to 8-cm long spikes with omnilateral flowers; 2(3) white tepals; 6 stamens; 3(4) carpels with 2 ovules each. Fruit about 10 x 7 mm. Seed about 7x4 mm in size, simple testa.

<i>Aponogeton capuronii</i> Species of aquatic plant

Aponogeton capuronii is an aquatic plant found in southeastern Madagascar.

<i>Aponogeton lakhonensis</i> Species of aquatic plant in the Aponogetonaceae family

Aponogeton lakhonensis is a species of an aquatic genus Aponogeton, itself the only genus in the Aponogetonaceae family. This species with a yellow-flowered single spike rising above the water, is found in ricefields, ponds and slow-moving streams of tropical and sub-tropical Asia. An outlier population occurs in Sulawesi, the main area of occurrence is from Thailand to Zhōngguó/China and Assam in India. It is more closely related to tropical Australian species of Aponogeton than it is to other Southeast Asian species. In Thailand the whole plant is eaten is salads, whereas Cambodians prefer the leaves alone served with fish sauce.

<i>Aponogeton ranunculiflorus</i> Species of aquatic plant

Aponogeton ranunculiflorus, the Sehlabathebe water lily, is a tiny and endangered species of aquatic plant, that belongs to the pondweed family Aponogetonaceae. It is protected in the Sehlabathebe National Park in the mountains of Lesotho, where it is very localised, and nearby in the uKhahlamba / Drakensberg Park of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Outside these areas it is seriously threatened. It is found in sandstone rock pools, up to 7 metres deep, and in permanently wet tarns or sensitive high altitude mires, at altitudes between about 2,600 and 3,200 metres. Its spiralled stems allow the flowers to remain at surface level. Threats to the species include overgrazing and trampling by cattle, overburning, erosion and subsistence farming. Their small (1 cm) corms can survive the drying out of the pools, or being frozen into the muddy bottoms.

References

  1. ↑ Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2009), "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III", Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 161 (2): 105–121, doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x , hdl: 10654/18083
  2. 1 2 van Bruggen, H. W. E. (1985). "Monograph of the genus Aponogeton (Aponogetonaceae)". Bibliotheca Botanica. 33 (137). Stuttgart: E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung: i–viii, 1–76. ISBN   978-3-510-48008-1. ISSN   0067-7892 . Retrieved 2010-03-13.
  3. ↑ Christenhusz, M. J. M. & Byng, J. W. (2016). "The number of known plants species in the world and its annual increase". Phytotaxa. 261 (3). Magnolia Press: 201–217. doi: 10.11646/phytotaxa.261.3.1 .
  4. ↑ Punu (Apono)
  5. ↑ Watson, L. & Dallwitz, M. J. (1992 onwards): Aponogetonaceae Archived April 24, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ Chen, Ling-Yun; Grimm, Guido W.; Wang, Qing-Feng; Renner, Susanne S. (January 2015). "A phylogeny and biogeographic analysis for the Cape-Pondweed family Aponogetonaceae (Alismatales)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 82: 111–117. Bibcode:2015MolPE..82..111C. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.10.007. PMID   25462997.
  7. ↑ J. H. Maiden (1889). The useful native plants of Australia : Including Tasmania. Turner and Henderson, Sydney.
  8. ↑ Gesting, B. Nature and Aquarium
  9. ↑ African Flowering Plants Database: Aponogeton
  10. ↑ Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan ISBN   0-333-47494-5.
  11. ↑ Govaerts, R. et al. (2019) Plants of the world online: Aponogeton. Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
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