Description: Spreading rhizomatous submerged perennials; stems erect, internodes not elongated, persistent.
Leaves distichous; blade linear; sheath open or margins fused, more persistent than the blade.
Inflorescence erect, a racemose or paniculate arrangement of spatheate 1-sided spadices. Spadix enclosed in the spathe; axis flattened, thickened. Flowers unisexual, naked, arranged alternately in 2 rows; retinaculae membranous [or absent], 1 on the margin of the spadix axis adjacent to each male flower. Inflorescence shed at maturity.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 12 species, cosmopolitan. Australia: 3 species (native), Qld, N.S.W., Vic., Tas., S.A.
Eel grasses.
Text by S. W. L. Jacobs
Taxon concept:
| One species in NSW: Zostera muelleri |
|
