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 Zostera noltii, from Thomé (1885)
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The flowering plant family Zosteraceae, or the seagrasses, is a family of marine perennial herbs that grow in coastal waters of temperate and subtropical zones. Most of the seagrasses complete their entire life cycle under water,[1] with filamentous pollen especially adapted to dispersion in an aquatic environment, and with leaves lacking stomata for atmospheric gas exchange and regulation of desiccation.
The family has long been recognized by taxonomists as monophyletic. The APG II system, of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system, of 1998), recognizes this family and places it in the order Alismatales, in the clade monocots. The family consists of two or three genera totalling about a dozen species, of marine plants ("seagrass"). The plants have ribbonlike leaves and prominent creeping rhizomes.
References
- ^ JD (1997). "Submarine pollination in the marine angiosperm Zostera marina (Zosteraceae) I: The influence of floral morphology on fluid flow". American Journal of Botany 84 (8): 1099–1109. Botanical Society of America. doi:. Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
External links
- Zosteraceae in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards).
- The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval. Version: 27th April 2006.
- Zosteraceae in the Flora of North America
- NCBI Taxonomy Browser
- links at CSDL, Texas
