Latin Aquae Aponi – Albano (Italy), Greek geiton – near.
Aquatic, freshwater, rhizomatous perennial herbs. Leaves floating, submerged or emergent, usually with parallel reticulate veins, basal, more or less opposite. Flower clusters spike-like, without bracts, but enclosed by a spathe at first. Flowers small, bisexual or occasionally unisexual with mostly 1-3 petal-like segments. Stamens 6 or more. Ovary superior. Carpels 3-8, free and with 1-many ovules. Fruit a whorl of follicles.
Grown in aquaria or pools.
1 genus and 43 species from the Asian tropics and subtropics, also S Africa. Australia has 4 native and 1 naturalised species.
Division, offsets or seed.
A. distachyos is eaten in S Africa as a green vegetable or pickled; the inflorescences are used in soups and stews, also canned; some species have edible tubers.
Aquatic plant with the flowers not differentiated into petals and sepals; leaf blades floating or submerged; inflorescence a simple or forking spike.
Bruggen (1985).
Source: (2005). Aponogetonaceae. 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.
