Plants photographed on Kyffhäuser
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Aponogeton desertorum Zeyh. ex A.Spreng.


Aponogeton desertorum

Leaves 3



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: 1/800 s
ISO speed: -
Content last updated: 18 Apr 2024


Note: The identification of some of the plants on this website is not 100% certain. Any comments will be highly appreciated. I would also be willing to supply higher resolution images upon request. Please contact me at the e-mail address given below.

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