Damasonium

Last updated

Starfruit
Damasonium californicum.jpg
Damasonium californicum
Damasonium minus P6120176.jpg
Damasonium minus (fruit)
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Alismatales
Family: Alismataceae
Genus: Damasonium
Mill.
Species

See text

Damasonium is a genus of six species of flowering plants in the family Alismataceae, commonly known as starfruit and by the older name thrumwort. The genus has a subcosmopolitan but very patchy distribution. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

They are aquatic perennial herbaceous plants growing in shallow water or mud beside ponds. The leaves are all basal, floating, or aerial in plants on pond margins. The flowers are hermaphrodite, in one to many whorls, in umbels, racemes or panicles; they have six stamens, and six to nine carpels arranged in a whorl, connate at the base, each with two to many ventral ovules; The styles are terminal. The fruit is a whorl of follicles; the follicles are laterally compressed, stellately radiating, with a more or less elongated apical beak. [3] [4]

Taxonomy

The genus was first described by Philip Miller in 1754. No type species was designated. [2] [5]

Species

As of May 2014, there are six accepted species: [6] [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Mentha</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae

Mentha is a genus of plants in the family Lamiaceae. The exact distinction between species is unclear; it is estimated that 13 to 24 species exist. Hybridization occurs naturally where some species' ranges overlap. Many hybrids and cultivars are known.

<i>Hepatica</i> Genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae

Hepatica is a genus of herbaceous perennials in the buttercup family, native to central and northern Europe, Asia and eastern North America. Some botanists include Hepatica within a wider interpretation of Anemone.

<i>Arrhenatherum</i> Genus of grasses

Arrhenatherum, commonly called oatgrass or button-grass, is a genus of Eurasian and North African plants in the grass family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alismataceae</span> Family of flowering plants comprising the water-plantains

The water-plantains (Alismataceae) are a family of flowering plants, comprising 19 genera and 117 species. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the greatest number of species in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Most of the species are herbaceous aquatic plants growing in marshes and ponds.

<i>Hyacinthoides hispanica</i> Species of flowering plant

Hyacinthoides hispanica, the Spanish bluebell, is a spring-flowering bulbous perennial native to the Iberian Peninsula. It is one of around a dozen species in the genus Hyacinthoides, others including the common bluebell in northwestern Europe, and the Italian bluebell further east in the Mediterranean region.

<i>Cyperus</i> Genus of plants

Cyperus is a large genus of about 700 species of sedges, distributed throughout all continents in both tropical and temperate regions.

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

Onopordum, or cottonthistle, is a genus of plants in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae. They are native to southern Europe, northern Africa, the Canary Islands, the Caucasus, and southwest and central Asia. They grow on disturbed land, roadsides, arable land and pastures.

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

Calophyllum is a genus of tropical flowering plants in the family Calophyllaceae. They are mainly distributed in Asia, with some species in Africa, the Americas, Australasia, and the Pacific Islands.

<i>Gagea</i> Genus of flowering plants in the lily family Liliaceae

Gagea is a large genus of spring flowers in the lily family. It is found primarily in Eurasia with a few species extending into North Africa and one species in North America.

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

Dasiphora is a genus of shrubs in the rose family Rosaceae, native to Asia, with one species D. fruticosa, ranging across the entire cool temperate Northern Hemisphere. In the past, the genus was normally included in Potentilla as Potentilla sect. Rhopalostylae, but genetic evidence has shown it to be distinct.

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

Polygala is a large genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Polygalaceae. They are commonly known as milkworts or snakeroots. The genus is distributed widely throughout much of the world in temperate zones and the tropics. The genus name Polygala comes from the ancient Greek "much milk", as the plant was thought to increase milk yields in cattle.

<i>Damasonium alisma</i> Species of aquatic plant

Damasonium alisma is a species of flowering marsh plant known by the common name of starfruit. Its native range includes parts of Great Britain, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Kazakhstan.

<i>Echinodorus</i> Genus of flowering plants in the water-plantain family Alismataceae

Echinodorus, commonly known as burhead or Amazon sword, is a genus of plants in the family Alismataceae, native to the Western Hemisphere from the central United States to Argentina. Its scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek echius – "rough husk" - and doros – "leathern bottle" - alluding to ovaries, which in some species are armed with persistent styles, forming prickly head of fruit. Some of the species are commonly cultivated in artificial aquatic habitats.

<i>Cephalanthera longifolia</i> Species of orchid

Cephalanthera longifolia, the narrow-leaved helleborine, sword-leaved helleborine or long-leaved helleborine, is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant in the family Orchidaceae. It is native to light woodland, and widespread across Europe, Asia and North Africa from Ireland and Morocco to China. This includes the United Kingdom, Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Algeria, India, Pakistan, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and many other countries.

<i>Banksia littoralis</i> Species of tree in the family Proteaceae endemic to the south-west of Western Australia

Banksia littoralis, commonly known as the swamp banksia, swamp oak, river banksia or seaside banksia and the western swamp banksia, is a species of tree that is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. The Noongar peoples know the plant as pungura, boongura or gwangia. It has rough, crumbly bark, linear, more or less serrated leaves arranged in whorls, yellow flowers and up to two hundred follicles in each head.

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

Catananche is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is native to dry meadows in the Mediterranean region.

<i>Anemonoides trifolia</i> Species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae

Anemonoides trifolia, the three-leaved anemone, is a perennial herbaceous plant in buttercup family (Ranunculaceae).

Salvia taraxacifolia is a species of flowering plant in the Lamiaceae family. It is referred to by the common name Dandelion leaved sage and is a herbaceous perennial shrub that is endemic to southwest Morocco, growing in the Atlas Mountains at elevations ranging from 2,000 feet (610 m) to 8,000 feet (2,400 m). Very adaptable, it grows on limestone slopes, forest clearings, and rocky riversides. It has no close allies in the genus Salvia. The specific epithet, taraxacifolia, is likely Persian in origin and means 'leaves shaped like a dandelion'.

<i>Allium siculum</i> Species of flowering plant

Allium siculum, known as honey garlic, Sicilian honey lily, Sicilian honey garlic, or Mediterranean bells, is a European and Turkish species of plants genus Allium. It is native to the regions around the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and grown in other regions as an ornamental and as a culinary herb.

<i>Damasonium minus</i> Species of aquatic plant

Damasonium minus is a species of flowering plant in the water-plantain family known by the common names starfruit and star-fruit. It is native to Australia, where it occurs everywhere except the Northern Territory. It is perhaps best known as an agricultural weed. It is a major weed of Australian rice crops.

References

  1. Germplasm Resources Information Network: Damasonium
  2. 1 2 "Damasonium". Australian Plant Name Index, IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
  3. 1 2 Flora of NW Europe: Damasonium [ permanent dead link ]
  4. 1 2 Flora of North America: Damasonium
  5. Miller, P. (1754). The Gardeners Dictionary abridged. Vol. 1 (4 ed.). p. 435.
  6. "World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew". apps.kew.org (in German). Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  7. Altervista Flora Italiana, Mestolaccia stellata, Starfruit, Damasonium
  8. Biota of North America Program Image