Althenia

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Althenia
Althenia filiformis Andalucia, Spain 01 Apr. 2011.jpg
Althenia filiformis
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Alismatales
Family: Potamogetonaceae
Genus: Althenia
Petit
Species

See text

Synonyms

Lepilaena J.Drumm. ex W.H.Harvey [1]

Lepilaena australis Harv., 1855 Lepilaena australis Vic., Australia 25 Oct. 2007.jpg
Lepilaena australis Harv., 1855

Althenia is a genus of aquatic plants of the family Potamogetonaceae. [2] This has long been a group of two species in the Mediterranean Europe and South Africa, but in 2016 was revised to include an Australasian relative, Lepilaena. [3] The genus is named after the agronomist Jean Althen. [4]

Description

This genus is made up of aquatic herbs. The bristle-like leaves are clustered at the nodes. The wider bases produce broad ligules. [5]

The flowers are unisexual. The male flowers have a perianth made of three minute scales and have a single stamen. [5]

The female flowers have a perianth made of one to three segments. The gynoecium has three carpels with a single pendulous ovule in each ovary. The filiform styles gradually pass into the carpels and the stigmas are large and oblique. The mature carpels are oblique and compressed with a winged or thickened margin. The seeds are pendulous, oblong and compressed. The embryo is straight. [5]

Species

Lepilaena

Lepilaena was a genus of aquatic and marine flowering plant comprising 6 or more species endemic [8] [9] to coastal and brackish or alkaline inland waters of temperate Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. [7] [8]

The species are appended with common names that derive from their description as water-mats; for example, L. australis is referred to as Austral water-mat and L. marina as Sea water-mat.

Interpretation of molecular evidence for this poorly studied genus suggests a close affinity with Zannichellia , another genus of aquatic plants. [7] Two species are noted for their occurrence in marine environs, L. cylindrocarpa and L. marina, in estuaries and tidal flats. [7] L. cylindrocarpa is also found in a variety of brackish inland waters of mainland Australia. [6] Other species may be found in habitats of fresh to brackish, still or slowly moving, coastal or inland waters.

Based on the molecular and morphological evidence, all the species have been transferred to the genus Althenia in 2016. [10]

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 corm of the taro plant, Colocasia esculenta.

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

Hydrocharitaceae is a flowering plant family including 16 known genera with a total of ca 135 known species, that including a number of species of aquatic plant, for instance the tape-grasses, the well known Canadian waterweed, and frogbit.

<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.

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

Zosteraceae is a family of marine perennial flowering plants found in temperate and subtropical coastal waters, with the highest diversity located around Korea and Japan. Most seagrasses complete their entire life cycle under water, having filamentous pollen especially adapted to dispersion in an aquatic environment and ribbon-like leaves that lack stomata. Seagrasses are herbaceous and have prominent creeping rhizomes. A distinctive characteristic of the family is the presence of characteristic retinacules, which are present in all species except members of Zostera subgenus Zostera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trochodendraceae</span> Family of flowering plants

Trochodendraceae is the only family of flowering plants in the order Trochodendrales. It comprises two extant genera, each with a single species along with up to five additional extinct genera and a number of extinct species. The living species are native to south east Asia. The two living species both have secondary xylem without vessel elements, which is quite rare in angiosperms. As the vessel-free wood suggests primitiveness, these two species have attracted much taxonomic attention.

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

Ruppia, also known as the widgeonweeds, ditch grasses or widgeon grass, is the only extant genus in the family Ruppiaceae, with eight known species. These are aquatic plants widespread over much of the world. The genus name honours Heinrich Bernhard Rupp, a German botanist (1688-1719). They are widespread outside of frigid zones and the tropics.

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

Cymodoceaceae is a family of flowering plants, sometimes known as the "manatee-grass family", which includes only marine species.

<i>Limosella</i> Genus of flowering plants

Limosella is a genus of flowering plants known as mudworts. These are annual, largely aquatic plants, found in muddy areas worldwide. Its phylogeny and biogeography are inferred from molecular data

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

Posidonia is a genus of flowering plants. It contains nine species of marine plants ("seagrass"), found in the seas of the Mediterranean and around the south coast of Australia.

<i>Zannichellia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Zannichellia is a genus of submerged aquatic flowering plant, with threadlike leaves and tiny flowers. It is fully adapted to an aquatic life cycle, including underwater pollination.

<i>Thalassia testudinum</i> Species of aquatic plant

Thalassia testudinum, commonly known as turtlegrass, is a species of marine seagrass. It forms meadows in shallow sandy or muddy locations in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Turtle grass and other seagrasses form meadows which are important habitats and feeding grounds. The grass is eaten by turtles and herbivorous fish, supports many epiphytes, and provides habitat for juvenile fish and many invertebrate taxa.

<i>Halodule uninervis</i> Species of plant in the family Cymodoceaceae

Halodule uninervis is a species of seagrass in the family Cymodoceaceae. It is native to the western Pacific and Indian Oceans. Common names include narrowleaf seagrass in English and a'shab bahriya in Arabic.

<i>Ottelia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Ottelia is a genus of an aquatic plant family Hydrocharitaceae described as a genus in 1805. The genus is native to tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, South America, and Australia.

Althenia australis is a species of aquatic plant in the family Potamogetonaceae. It is found in fresh to brackish waters in Australia. This species has been transferred from Lepilaena.

<i>Althenia preissii</i> Species of plant in the family Potamogetonaceae

Althenia preissii is a plant found in fresh to brackish waters in Australia. This species has been transferred from the genus Lepilaena.

Althenia marina is a plant found in brackish to marine waters in Australia. The species has been transferred from the genus Lepilaena.

Althenia bilocularis is a plant found in both Australia and New Zealand, in fresh to brackish waters. In Australia it is found in all mainland states with the exception of the Northern Territory. In New Zealand it is found on the North, South and Chatham Islands.

Althenia cylindrocarpa is a species of aquatic plant in the family Potamogetonaceae. It is found in fresh to brackish waters in Australia. This species has been transferred from Lepilaena.

<i>Schoenus gracillimus</i> Species of grass-like plant

Schoenus gracillimus is a species of sedge endemic to the Western Cape Province of South Africa.

<i>Schoenus crinitus</i> Species of grass-like plant

Schoenus crinitus is a species of sedge endemic to the Worcester region of the Western Cape Province of South Africa.

References

  1. Hooker's J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 7: 57. 1855 IPNI
  2. "United States Department of Agriculture database". Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. Retrieved 2008-04-08.
  3. Ito, Y., Nr. Tanaka, P. García-Murillo, A.M. Muasya (2016) A new delimitation of the Afro-Eurasian plant genus Althenia to include its Australasian relative, Lepilaena (Potamogetonaceae) – evidence from DNA and morphological data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 98: 261-270.
  4. "Genus Althenia". CasaBio. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 Phillips, Edwin Percy (1951). The genera of South African flowering plants. South Africa: Government Printer.
  6. 1 2 "Lepilaena cylindrocarpa (Muell.Stuttg.)". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Larkum, Anthony W.D.; Duarte, Carlos; Orth, Robert J., eds. (2005). "Taxonomy and biogeorgraphy of seagrasses". Seagrasses: Biology, Ecology and Conservation. Springer-Verlag New York, LLC. ISBN   978-1-4020-2942-4.
  8. 1 2 Hammer, Ulrich Theodore (1986). Saline Lake Ecosystems of the World. Springer London, Limited. ISBN   978-90-6193-535-3.
  9. Klaus Kubitzki, ed. (1998). Flowering Plants. Monocotyledons: Alismatanae and Commelinanae (except Gramineae) (The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants). Springer. p. 472. ISBN   978-3-540-64061-5.
  10. Ito, Y., Nr. Tanaka, P. García-Murillo, A.M. Muasya (2016) A new delimitation of the Afro-Eurasian plant genus Althenia to include its Australasian relative, Lepilaena (Potamogetonaceae) – evidence from DNA and morphological data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 98: 261-270.