The Cabombaceae are a family of aquatic, herbaceous flowering plants. A common name for its species is water shield. The family is recognised as distinct in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group IV system (2016). The family consists of two genera of aquatic plants, Brasenia and Cabomba, totalling six species.
Description
Vegetative characteristics Cabombaceae are perennial, rhizomatous, aquatic herbsCabombaceae in Flora of North America @ efloras.org. (n.d.). Retrieved February 17, 2025, from http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=10140 with slender, branched rhizomes and adventitious roots. The leaves are whorled, alternate, or opposite. Both floating and submerged leaves are produced.Cabombaceae. (n.d.). VicFlora Flora of Victoria. Retrieved February 17, 2025, from https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/0fbf1892-c184-4ba6-8217-f627ab8fb0ec Generative characteristics The solitary, pedunculate, bisexual, chasmogamous, actinomorphic, inodorousPellegrini, M. O. O. & Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. (n.d.-e). Cabombaceae Rich. ex A.Rich. Flora E Funga Do Brasil. Retrieved February 17, 2025, from https://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/FB69 flowers float on the water surface or extend beyond it.Cabombaceae in Flora of China @ efloras.org. (n.d.). Retrieved February 17, 2025, from http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=10140 The gynoecium consists of (1–)2–18 free carpels.T.D. Stanley, A.E. Orchard. Cabombaceae, in P.G. Kodeal (ed.), Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Cabombaceae [Date Accessed: 18 February 2025] The indehiscent,Bory de Saint-Vincent. (1822). Dictionnaire classique d’histoire naturelle (Vol. 2, p. 608). Rey et Gravier, Libraries-Editeurs, Auai des Augustins, no. 55; Baudouin Frèrer, Libraries-Editeurs, Imprimeurs de la société D’Histoire Naturelle, Rue de Vaugirard, no. 36. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/25672588 follicle-like or achene-like fruit bears 1–3 seeds.
Distribution The Cabombaceae are all aquatic, living in still or slow-moving waters of temperate and tropical North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Although found on all continents but Antarctica, the plants tend to grow in relatively restricted ranges.
Fossil record The family has an extensive fossil record from the Cretaceous with plants that exhibit affinities to either the Cabombaceae or Nymphaeaceae occurring in the Early Cretaceous.
One such likely Cretaceous member is the genus Pluricarpellatia, found in rocks 115 million years old in what is now Brazil. Scutifolium jordanicum David W.Taylor, G.J.Brenner et S.H.Basha has been described from the Lower Cretaceous of Jordan.Taylor, D. W., Brenner, G. J., & Basha, S. D. H. (2008). "Scutifolium jordanicum gen. et sp. nov.(Cabombaceae), an aquatic fossil plant from the Lower Cretaceous of Jordan, and the relationships of related leaf fossils to living genera. American Journal of Botany, 95(3), 340-352. Garasbahia flexuosa Krassilov et Bachia has been described from the mid-Cretaceous of Morocco.
Taxonomy Publication The family Cabombaceae Rich. ex A.Rich. was first published in 1822 by Louis Claude Richard, but initial description did not satisfy the requirements for valid publications. The family then was validated by Achille Richard.
Taxonomic history The APG system of 1998 included this family in the water lily family Nymphaeaceae, as did the APG II system, of 2003 (optionally). The APG III and APG IV systems of classification separated the family Cabombaceae from the family Nymphaeaceae. The family is part of the order Nymphaeales, which is one of the most basal flowering plant lineages.
References
Further reading Simpson, M.G. Plant Systematics. Elsevier Academic Press. 2006.
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