Aponogetonaceae

Now this, my friends, is fenestration at its finest. These leaves belong to the Madagascar lace plant (Aponogeton madagascariensis). That glorious leaf anatomy is the result of programmed cell death during development. As interesting as that fact is in and of itself, the question remains, what is the function of fenestration?

There have been many hypotheses put forward to explain this phenomenon. Some believe it helps to reduce damage from turbulence wheras others believe it helps to increase movement around the leaves to avoid stagnation. The truth is, no one is entirely certain. However, a clue to the benefits of fenestration has come out of work done on an entirely unrelated terrestrial plant species.

The epiphytic arum commonly referred to as a Swiss cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa) also exhibits fenestrated leaves. Researchers at Indiana University in Bloomington have found that the holes in the leaves of Monstera may actually help gather more light in a shaded environment. The understory of a rainforest and the underwater habitat in which the lace plant grows may be more similar in light availability than you might think.

A fenestrated leaf can grow much larger while still maintaining the same amount of surface area. By spreading out its surface area over a larger region, a fenestrated leaf is actually more efficient at gathering what limited light is available. More work needs to be done to see if this is truly the case for the lace plant but the idea is tantalizing to say the least.

New family blooming for us!
It is sweetly scented and bilaterally symmetrical in a unique way. We’re happy it is happy with our new home
No. 2559
#Aponogeton #distachyos
#Aponogetonaceae #uwbiogreenhouse #uwbiology

またレースプラントの花が咲きました🌸
水流強めると咲くのかな？？

#アクアリウム
#アクアリウムのある暮らし
#アクアリウム水槽
#水槽
#熱帯魚
#水草水槽
#レースプラント
#Aponogeton
#Aponogetonaceae
#laceplant

Waterblommetjie is certainly one of South Africa’s most famous edible plants.

The Aponogeton distachyos is a species of flowering plant in the Aponogetonaceae family.

Common names are: Cape Pondweed, Waterblommetjie, Espárrago de El Cabo, Florzinha da Água, 二穗水蕹 , ดอกไม้น้ําน้อย, キボホウヒルムシロ .

The A.distachyos is a tuberous aquatic semi evergreen, herbaceous perennial plant that grows in water up to 1.2m deep with floating narrow oval dark green leaves. It produces scented forked inflorescence bearing tiny ,white, one-petalled flowers with brown anthers, after it finished flowering it produces oblong shaped fruit. This aquatic plant is hardy to zone 9.

As it’s name already suggests it originates from 🇿🇦 ( Western, Eastern and Northern Cape ) where it can be found growing in ponds and vleis. It has become naturalized in countries like 🇫🇷, 🇬🇧 and 🇦🇺.

The buds and flowers are a highly prized delicacy in South Africa and is used in Waterblommetjiebredie, they have a green bean sort of taste. Besides the flowers/buds the tubers and young shoots are edible as well but harvested far less often.

Besides that it’s edible it is also quite ornamental as well and can be used in outdoor aquaria and water features.

#Aponogetonaceae
#Aponogetondistachyos
#Waterblommetjie
#southafricanplants
#capeflowers
#africanvegetables
#waterplants
#pondplants
#floresbrancas
#scentedflowers
#edibleflowers

Aponogeton distachyos
#mashuduplants
#fortheloveofplants
#aquantic
#waterblommetjie
#aponogetondistachyos
#aponogeton
#flowersandbudsedible
#aponogetonaceae
#cape
#endemic
#wosley

PLANT 497

Aponogeton natans
Family #aponogetonaceae

I have been in Bengaluru for the past few days and made a trip to Hesaraghatta grasslands this morning. It was incessantly raining and I returned sooner than expected. It was overall a good trip, although much of what I saw was overrun with invasives.

I found this native Aponogeton sp. in a ditch. There are 8 Aponogeton sp. in India as per POWO, and the Flora of Maharashtra State reports 5. The species not reported: A. wolfgangianus is a Kerala endemic (as per POWO), A. appendiculatus is clearly morphologically larger (from POWO herbarium specimens), and A. nateshii is a Maharashtra endemic described in 2015.

This lets us key out this species using the available Key. The persistent tepals, and the presence of both submerged and floating leaves led me to this ID, along with the fact that it is described as “common” in the Flora of Maharashtra State. That said, I could be wrong and corrections are appreciated.

https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:82958-1

Please do let me know anything you`d like to share about this plant including any common names you might know, in the comments!

Personally photographing the #floraofindia one plant at a time; attempting to post at least #oneplantdaily .

[Bengaluru, native species, native flora, flora of India, taxonomy, grassland]

#karnatakaforest #karnatakagrassland #macroflora #nativeplant #nativespecies #indiabiodiversity #biodiversitycrisis #biodiversityconservation #floraofindia #hesaraghatta #savannah #grasslandecosystem #hydrophyte #wetland #wetlandflower #wetlandplant #aponogeton #aponogetonnatans