49. Zeylanidium (Tulasne) Engler
Zeylanidium (Tulasne) Engler in Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. ed. 2, 18a: 61 (1928), sensu C. Cusset, Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Paris IV, 14, Sect. B. Adansonia 1: 28 (1992).
Hydrobryopsis Engler (1928).
Podostemum auctt. Ind., non A. Michaux (1803).
Roots thread-like, subcylindrical and forked, or ribbon-like and pinnately lobed, lobes sometimes overlapping or foliose, 1--10 (--30) cm diameter and irregularly lobed; stems simple, short or somewhat elongate, simple, scattered on upper surface of root or in the sinuses of root lobes; erect structures, up to 3 cm long, stalked below and terminating in photosynthetic filaments may also arise from upper surface of root; flowering stems erect or rather prostrate, with scale-like leaves. Leaves of vegetative stems thread-like, (0.5--) 2--5(--30) cm long; leaves of flowering stems imbricate, scale-like, those at base terminating in a caducous, thread-like tip, those below flowers rounded. Spathellas ovoid or boat-like, with an apical beak, opening at tip or by a longitudinal slit, remaining embedded in surrounding leaves or carried well above leaves. Flowers subsessile or pedicellate; tepals 2, one each side of andropodium or stamen; stamens 2 or rarely 1, when 2 then borne on an andropodium; pollen in dyads. Capsules ellipsoidal to subglobose, 2--5 mm long; valves unequal, the larger one persistent; each valve smooth or with 3 ribs; stigmas slightly unequal, conical to linear, sometimes slightly flattened and fan-like. Seeds ± 40 in Z. sessilis (Willis) C.D.K. Cook & R. Rutishauser. Five or six spp., Sri Lanka, S, W & NE India, Myanmar. |
