Aquatic or subaquatic perennial herbs, prostrate to straggling or erect, usually much-branched, rooting particularly at lower nodes
Leaves opposite, entire, petiolate
Inflorescence a shortly pedunculate, elongate, bracteate spike, terminal on stem and branches; bracts persistent, hyaline
Flowers bisexual, solitary in axils of bracts; bracteoles 2, ± circular, hyaline, falling with flower
Tepals 5, ± spreading at anthesis, later closing together and considerably indurate at base; upper tepal narrowest and longest, 1-3-nerved
Stamens 5, shorter than perianth, shortly monadelphous at base, alternating with spathulate pseudostaminodes furnished with fimbriate dorsal scales; anthers 2-thecous
Ovary oblong in outline; ovule solitary, pendulous on curved funicle, radicle ascending; style filiform; stigma capitate
Capsule thin-walled, tightly enclosing seed, falling together with persistent perianth and bracteoles
Global: Monotypic: Centrostachys aquatica (R.Br.) Wall. ex Moq.; in tropical Asia from India and Sri Lanka to Indonesia and tropical Africa from Nigeria to Sudan and Ethiopia south to DRC, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and southern Africa
Southern Africa: Botswana
References:
BAKER, J.G. & CLARKE, C.B. 1909. Amarantaceae. Flora of tropical Africa 6,1
CAVACO, A. 1962. Les Amaranthaceae de l'Afrique au sud du Tropique du Cancer et de Madagascar. Mémoires du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, Série B, Botanique 13
MOQUIN-TANDON, C.H.B.A. 1849. Amarantaceae. In A.P. de Candolle, Prodromus 13,2. Treuttel & Würtz, Paris
SCHINZ, H. 1934. Amaranthaceae. Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien, edn 2, 16c
TOWNSEND, C.C. 1974. Notes on Amaranthaceae 2. Kew Bulletin 29
TOWNSEND, C.C. 1985. Flora of tropical East Africa. Amaranthaceae
TOWNSEND, C.C. 1993. Amaranthaceae. In K. Kubitzki, J.G. Rohwer & V. Bittrich, The families and genera of vascular plants - dicotyledons 2. Springer-Verlag, Berlin
WALLICH, N. 1824. Achyranthes. In W. Roxburgh, Flora Indica or descriptions of Indian plants 2. Mission Press, Serampore
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
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