The Potamogetonaceae, commonly referred to as the pondweed family, is an aquatic family of monocotyledonousflowering plants. The roughly 110 known species are divided over six genera.[2] The largest genus in the family by far is Potamogeton, which contains about 100 species.
The family has a subcosmopolitan distribution, and is considered to be one of the most important angiosperm groups in the aquatic environment because of its use as food and habitat for aquatic animals.[3]
Taxonomy
The Potamogetonaceae are currently placed in the early diverging monocot order Alismatales by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group.[1] Their concept of the family includes the plants sometimes treated in the separate family Zannichelliaceae, but excludes the genus Ruppia. So circumscribed, the family currently consists of six genera: Althenia, Groenlandia, Lepilaena, Potamogeton, Stuckenia, and Zannichellia,[4] totalling about 120 species of perennial aquatic plants.
The plants are all aquatic perennial herbs, often with creeping rhizomes and leafy branches. Their leaf blades can be either floating or submerged, and their stems are often joined. No stomata are present on the leaves. The flowers are tetramerous: the floral formula (sepals; petals; stamens; carpels) is [4;0;4;4]. The flowers have no petals. The fruit consists of one to four drupelets or achenes.[12]
^Haynes, R. R. 1975. A revision of North American Potamogeton subsection Pusilli (Potamogetonaceae). Rhodora 76: 564--64
^Nunes, E.L.P., de Lima, M.C., Coan, A.I., de Chiara Moco, M.C. (2010). Contribution to the embryology of Potamogeton L. (Alismatales, Potamogetonaceae). Aquatic Botany, 93: 32-38.
^ abKubitzki (ed.) 1998. The families and genera of vascular plants, vol 4, Monocotyledons: Alismatanae and Commelinanae (except Gramineae). Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
^Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 21 March 2010. http://delta-intkey.com/angio/www/potamoge.htm
