Aquatic floating herbs. Stipules cleft to base. Leaves alternate, in floating rosettes; petiole spongy and inflated about the middle. Adventitious roots leaf-like, pinnatisect into many filiform segments. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic, solitary from upper axils. Sepals, petals and stamens 4. Petals white. Ovary semi-inferior, 2-locular. Fruit a 1-seeded drupe bearing 2-4 horns. Worldwide: 1 genus and c. 20 species in the Old World excluding the Pacific. Zimbabwe: 1 genus and 1 taxon. |