| Classification |
| Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order Type: Basal Angiosperms-Monocots
Order: Commelinales
Family: Pontederiaceae
Family Common Name: Water Hyacinth Family
Genera: Eichhornia, Pontederia |
Defining Features: Water or
marsh plants with spongy stem. The inflorescence has a pair of leaf-like
or sheating bracts. Flowers are mostly blue or yellow.
Defining Morphology: Floral
Features: Flowers are bisexual either actinomorphic or zygomorphic. Inflorescence
is determinate, but mostly appearing in a form of spikes or racemes or
reduced to a solitary flower. Ovaries are superior with often axile placentation.
Fruit and Seed Features: Monocotyledon. Fruits are loculicidal capsule
or nut. Vegetative Features: Habit as aquatic to emergent rhizomatous herbs.
Leaves are alternate and spiral, simple, entire, with paralled to palmate
venation. Sheathing is present at the base of the leaves. Stipules are
lacking.
Distribution: Widespread in
aquatic and semi-aquatic habitats of tropical and subtropical regions with
few species in temperate regions.
Economic Use: As aquatic ornamentals.
Number of Genera Globally: 7
Number of Species Globally:
35
