| TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993) |
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©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
For up-to-date information about California vascular plants, visit the Jepson eFlora. |
AND IS MAINTAINED FOR ARCHIVAL PURPOSES ONLY |
Annual, perennial herb, in or near water; roots fibrous, from a taproot or not, generally from lower leaf axils as well
Stem generally soft
Leaves simple, opposite, ± 4-ranked; stipules scarious
Inflorescence: flowers axillary or terminal, solitary or clustered
Flowers small, inconspicuous, radial, bisexual; sepals and petals generally free, 3–5, equal in number; ovary spheric, styles 3–5, very short
Fruit: capsule, septicidal, ± spheric, ovoid, or depressed-ovoid, walls thin; chambers 2–5, each several–many-seeded
Seed very small; surface net-like or glossy
Genera in family: 2 genera, 50 species: ± worldwide
Reference: [Tucker 1986 J Arnold Arbor 67:471–483]
Annual, perennial herb, glandular-hairy
Stem prostrate to ascending, simple to much-branched; base sometimes ± woody
Leaves 4-ranked; petiole < blade; blade elliptic, serrate, base wedge-shaped, tip acute
Inflorescence: flowers axillary or terminal, solitary or clustered
Flower: sepals 5, deltate; petals 5, oblong, membranous, glabrous; stamens 5–10, filaments ± = petals, anthers elliptic; styles 5
Fruit ovoid; chambers 5, each many-seeded
Seeds not visible through fruit wall, oblong, ± curved, brown; surface obscurely net-like
Species in genus: ± 25 species: generally Old World tropical, 1 North America
Etymology: (P.J. Bergius, student of Linnaeus, 1730–1790)