Butomaceae Mirb.

Butomaceae, Susan Carter. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1960

Habit

Perennial or annual, aquatic, swamp or marsh herbs, glabrous, usually lactiferous

Rhizomes

Rhizome short; roots short, fibrous

Leaves

Leaves erect or floating, basal; petiole with a sheathing base; leaf-blade entire, iridaceous, or lanceolate to orbicular with cuneate to truncate base and acute to rounded apex

Inflorescences

Inflorescence umbellate, rarely with solitary flowers; bracts 2 or 3; bracteoles several; flowers regular, bisexual

Calyx

Sepals 3, persistent

Corolla

Petals 3, delicate

Androecium

Stamens 6–9–?; filaments flattened; anthers 2-celled, dehiscing longitudinally and laterally

Gynoecium

Carpels superior, free or joined at the base, 6–?, in a whorl, unilocular; style terminal; stigma sessile; ovules ?, scattered over the ovary-wall on a reticulate placenta

Fruits

Fruiting carpels finally dehiscing along the ventral suture; seeds ?, smooth, wrinkled or ridged, rarely slightly spiny, without endosperm; embryo horseshoe-shaped or straight

Distribution

A small family, confined to the tropics or subtropics except for Butomus L. which extends across Europe and Asia. The following genus is the only one which occurs in Africa