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Waterwort family
Elatinaceae
ミゾハコベ科
A small family of small wetland and aquatic plants such as Elatine triandra. About 2 genera and 35 species are distributed in wetlands and waterside habitats from temperate to tropical regions worldwide; in Japan they grow in rice paddies and ponds. Leaves are opposite and very small; flowers are extremely tiny.
Key Characteristics
- ●Small wetland and aquatic herbs
- ●Leaves are opposite, simple, and very small
- ●Flowers are dimerous to tetramerous, very small, with white to pale pink petals
- ●Fruit is a capsule
Morphological Traits
A family may include species with different trait values — multiple values indicate the range within the family.
Leaf arrangement
Opposite / Whorled
Leaf type
Simple
Venation
Pinnate
Leaf margin
Serrate / Entire / Crenate
Growth form
Shrub / Herb
Evergreen/Deciduous
Deciduous
Leaf dissection
Undivided
Stipules
Present
Flower symmetry
Actinomorphic
Petal count
4 petals / 5 petals / 6 petals / Many
Ovary position
Superior
Stamen count
1-2 / 3-4 / 5
Plant sex
Hermaphrodite
Phylogenetic Position
Angiosperms > Eudicots > Core eudicots > Malpighiales > Elatinaceae
Divergence Era
Paleogene
Representative Genera
Related Evolution Events
- ・Adaptation to wetland and waterside environments through miniaturization
Plants in Waterwort family on this site
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