Family Elatinaceae
Description: Annual or perennial herbs, aquatic or terrestrial.
Leaves opposite or whorled, simple, generally entire.
Flowers bisexual, solitary or clustered, axillary. Sepals 3–5, free or fused below; petals 3–5, free. Stamens 3–10. Ovary superior; carpels 3–5; styles 3–5.
Fruit a capsule, dehiscing septicidally; seeds numerous, lacking endosperm, with a characteristic reticulate surface pattern.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 2 genera, c. 30 species, cosmopolitan. Australia: 2 genera, 6 species, all States.
External links:
Angiosperm Phylogeny Website (Family: Elatinaceae, Order: Malpighiales)
Wikipedia
Text by S. W. L. Jacobs Taxon concept:
| Key to the genera | |
1 | Aquatic annuals, either erect and submerged or prostrate on wet mud; leaves delicate, with minute marginal glands; sepals minute | Elatine |
| Erect or decumbent dryland annuals or perennials, commonly growing as strand plants on inland lakes; leaves firm, without marginal glands; sepals subequal to petals | Bergia |
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