Aponogeton desertorum
| Family: | Aponogetonaceae |
| Full name: | Aponogeton desertorum Zeyh. ex A.Spreng. |
| Location: | Kyffhäuser (2416AD + 2416CB) |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Wateruintjie |
| English common name(s): | Dog-with-two-tails |
| Synonym(s): | Aponogeton dinteri Engl. & K.Krause Aponogeton eylesii Rendle fide Fl. S. Africa 1: 90 (1966). Aponogeton holubii Oliv. Aponogeton kraussianus Hochst. ex Krauss Aponogeton leptostachyus E.Mey. ex Engl. fide Fl. S. Africa 1: 90 (1966). |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Leaves with rounded bases, seldom cordate; flowers yellow or occasionally white; turned in all directions on long cylindrical, tapered spikes. Spike bifid, many flowered; large or small plants. (from Water Plants of Namibia: An Identification Manual) Tuber 1-2 cm in diameter, spherical. Stems to 30 cm or more. Leaves 6-9 per plant; petiole flattened; lamina 5-17 x 2-6 cm, oblong, floating; base cordate; apex obtuse, apiculate. Spikes 3-12 cm, forked; peduncle usually swollen above. Flowers arranged all round the rhachis, the spikes characteristically tapering above; perianth segments 2, yellow. Stamens usually 6. Carpels 3-5. Follicles 3 mm, brownish-yellow. (from Flora of Zimbabwe website) Tubers small, globose, 1-2 cm in diam., brown. Leaves 6-9 per plant, petioles flattened, striate, lamina floating, oblong, 5-17 cm long and 2-6 cm broad, apex obtuse, apiculate, base cordate, thinly coriaceous, often with many immersed oil glands in the epidermis (no submerged leaves seen). Spike bifid, lengthening during anthesis, 3-12 cm long, scape flattened, usually swollen above. Flowers white (in eastern Cape) or yellow, eventually somewhat laxly arranged all around the rhachis, the thick fruiting carpels below and the elongated young apical part giving the spikes their typically tapered appearance; perianth-segments 2, narrow-oblong to narrow-obovate, 2 mm long. Stamens usually 6, filiform, somewhat flattened, 2 mm long, spreading, anthers small, early deciduous, pollen ellipsoid, copious. Carpels 5-3, ovoid, 2 mm long, with a terete style, with the stigmatic ridge short, apical, glutinous, usually dark; the 4-8 ovules usually visible through the transparent walls of the carpels and follicles; seeds cylindrical, 2 mm long, mostly about 6 ripening in each follicle. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Southern Africa) Leaves oblong-elliptic, 4.5–6 by 2–3 in., apex shortly semi-obtuse, base rounded, cordate, 7–9-veined, veining obscure; petioles elongated. Peduncle thick, tapering upwards; spike bifid, 2.5–3.5 in. long, dense-flowered; flowers hermaphrodite; bracts 2, oblong or ovate-oblong, obtuse. Stamens about 6. Follicles oblong, terete, with a beak 3/4 as long as the ovary. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Tropical Africa) |
| Link(s) |
African Plant Database
JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien iNaturalist (Namibia / Alex Dreyer) iNaturalist (Namibia) iNaturalist (southern Africa) Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie Tree Atlas of Namibia |
| Photographer: | AA Dreyer |
| Date of photograph: | 24 Mar 2008 |
| Camera make: | Canon |
| Camera model: | PowerShot A700 |
| Lens aperture: | f/4.0 |
| Shutter speed: | 1/1000 s |
| ISO speed: | - |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
