e-Key v3 - Wolffia
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Interactive keys to the identification of seed plants of southern Africa using keys based on plant morphology.

Lemnaceae - Wolffia Horkel ex Schleid.

Description :

  • Minute, floating, rootless aquatics
  • Fronds rarely exceeding 1 mm in any dimension, solitary or 2 remaining attached, inflated, globose to ovoid, with 1 basal, lateral, funnel-shaped budding pouch; daughter plants soon separating, nerves absent
  • Roots 0
  • Flowering cavity in upper surface of frond
  • Inflorescence of 1 female and 1 male flower, without a membraneous sheath
  • Anther 1-thecous
  • Utricle with 1 ovule
  • Seed globose, up to 0.5 mm long, smooth with spongy outer layer
  • x = 10 (high polyploidy)

Nomenclature:

  • Wolffia Horkel ex Schleid.
    • Schleiden: 233 (1844)
    • Brown: 40 (1897)
    • Den Hartog: 591 (1969)
    • Landolt: 544 (1986)
    • Cook: 113 (1990)

Distribution & Notes:

  • Global : Species 9, ± cosmopolitan, absent from colder areas
  • Southern Africa : Species 2, widespread

References:

  • BROWN, N.E. 1897. Lemnaceae . Flora capensis 7
  • COOK, C.D.K. 1990. Aquatic plant book . SPB Academic Publishing, The Hague
  • DEN HARTOG, C. 1969. Nomina conservanda proposita. Taxon 18
  • LANDOLT, E. 1986. The family of Lemnaceae - a monographic study. Veröffentlichungen des Geobotanischen Institutes der Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule, Stiftung Rübel, in Zürich 95 (71)
  • SCHLEIDEN, M.J. 1844. Beiträge zur Botanik 1. Engelmann, Leipzig