Commemorating Antonio Vallinieri de Vallisnera (1661–1730), Professor at the University of Padua.
Submerged aquatic perennial or annual herbs. Leaves submerged, grass-like, basal, or rarely alternate on the stems. Flowers unisexual, floating.male flowers in many-flowered heads, detaching and floating on the surface. Female flowers solitary, stalkless in a tubular spathe, the stalk coiling at maturity to draw the developing fruit below the surface. Fruit narrowly cylindrical and containing numerous seeds.
Used as oxygenating plants in aquaria.
About 10 species, tropical and warm temperate. 4 Australian native species.
Division.
Leaves basal, grass-like; flower stalk coiling.
Lowden (1982).
Source: (2005). Hydrocharitaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
