Caldesia

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Caldesia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Alismatales
Family: Alismataceae
Genus: Caldesia
Parl.
Species
  • Caldesia brandoniana †
  • Caldesia grandis
  • Caldesia oligococca
  • Caldesia parnassifolia
  • Caldesia reniformis

Caldesia is a genus of aquatic plants. It includes four living species distributed in the Old World tropics. The genus "has an extensive Oligocene through Pleistocene fossil record in Eurasia,"[1] and has been found in fossil strata of the United States (Idaho and Vermont) as well. Ten fossil species have been described for the genus.

[edit] Description

Leaves all basal, floating or aerial, ovate to elliptical, cordate or subcordate. Flowers hermaphrodite, in racemes or panicles. Stamens 6(-11). Carpels few or numerous in a single whorl, free, each with 1 ovule; styles subventral. Fruitlets drupaceous, with woody endocarp and spongy exocarp, swollen, with a short subventral beak, smooth or with tubercles or spines.

[edit] Species

  • C. parnassifolia (L.) Parl. syn. Alisma parnassifolium L.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Haggard, Kristina K.; Tiffney, Bruce H. (1997). "The Flora of the Early Miocene Brandon Lignite, Vermont, USA. VIII. Caldesia (Alismataceae)". American Journal of Botany 84 (2): 239–252. doi:10.2307/2446086.