Alisma

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject.

WikiProject Plants or the Plants Portal may be able to help recruit one.

If a more appropriate WikiProject or portal exists, please adjust this template accordingly.

Alisma

Alisma plantago-aquatica

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Liliopsida
Order:	Alismatales
Family:	Alismataceae
Genus:	Alisma L.

Species

A. gramineum
A. lanceolatum
A. plantago-aquatica
A. subcordatum
A. triviale
A. wahlenbergii

Alisma is a genus of plants in the Alismataceae or water-plantain family. The genus consists of aquatic plants with leaves either floating or submerged, found in a variety of still water habitats. The flowers are hermaphrodite, and are arranged in panicles, racemes, or umbels. Alisma flowers have six stamens, numerous free carpels in a single whorl, each with 1 ovule, and subventral styles. The fruit is an achene with a short beak.

The nineteenth century British art and social critic John Ruskin believed that the particular curve of the leaf-ribs of Alisma represented a model of 'divine proportion' and helped shape his theory of Gothic architecture.