''Albidella'' is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
flowering plants
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...
in the family
Alismataceae
The water-plantains (Alismataceae) are a family of flowering plants, comprising 20 genera (17 extant and 3 fossil) and 119 species. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the greatest number of species in temperate regions of the Northe ...
. It includes four species native to the tropics.
Species
Four species are accepted.
[
* '' Albidella acanthocarpa''
* '' Albidella glandulosa''
* '' Albidella nymphaeifolia''
* '' Albidella oligococca''
]
Etymology
''Albidella'' is a taxonomic anagram derived from the name of the confamilial genus '' Baldellia''. The latter name is a taxonomic patronym honoring the Italian nobleman Bartolommeo Bartoloni-Baldelli.
Description
This genus markedly differs from ''Echinodorus
''Echinodorus'', commonly known as burhead or Amazon sword, is a genus of plants in the family Alismataceae, native to the Western Hemisphere from the central United States to Argentina. Its scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek ' – "r ...
'' by a typical paniculate inflorescence shaped as a regular pyramid. Flowering stalk is 40 – 50 cm tall, inflorescence up to 12 – 20 cm long, flowers arranged in 2 - 6 whorls
A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs).
In nature
File:Photograph and axial plane floral diagram ...
, bracts of the lower whorl reach a length of 2.5 – 4 cm and a width of 0.5 - 0.8 cm, bracts in further whorls being only 2 – 5 mm long. Corolla white, stamens usually 9. Compound fruit comprises maximum 20 achenes, each 1.4 - 1.6 mm long x 1 mm wide with a broad crested keel and with crested ribs and 1 or 2 long glands on each face, beak 0.2 mm long.[Pichon, Marcel. 1946. Notulae Systematicae. Herbier du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris, Phanérogramie, 12: 174-175]
References
External links
Herbarium specimen - Belize
photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected Cuba in the 1860s, isolectotype of ''Alisma nymphaeifolium'' hence also of ''Albidella nymphaeifolia''
photo of herbarium specimen at Natural History Museum (London), collected Cuba in the 1860s, isolectotype of ''Alisma nymphaeifolium'' hence also of ''Albidella nymphaeifolia''
Encyclopedia of Life
Photos of Albidella nymphaeifolia
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15709126
Alismataceae
Alismataceae genera
Taxa described in 1947
Taxa named by Marcel Pichon