| Home | > | List of families | > | Amaranthaceae | > | Centrostachys | > | aquatica |
| Synonyms: |
Achyranthes aquatica R. Br. |
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| Description: |
Prostrate to straggling or erect, much-branched aquatic or subaquatic perennial, rooting at the lower nodes with dense tufts of whitish rhizoids, stem near the base up to 2 cm thick, spongy, hollow. Upper stem and branches mostly hairless but increasingly appressed-hairy towards the inflorescence. Leaves lanceolate to lanceolate-oblong or oblong-ovate, 7-15 cm long, appressed-hairy on both surfaces (densely so when young); petiole 0.4–4 cm long. Flowering spike c. 4–12 cm long in flower, elongating to as much as 25 cm in fruit. Bracts deltoid-lanceolate, 3–4 mm long, hyaline with a single midrib, hairless; bracteoles more or less circular hyaline, c. 1.5–2 mm long, hairless. Perianth 6–8 mm long, upper tepal slightly longer than others, with a sharper, often slightly recurved apex. Capsule c. 4 mm long, slightly broader at the base but rounded above. |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | aquatica: living in water, aquatic. |
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| Worldwide distribution: | From Nigeria to Sudan and Ethiopia south to DRC, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe; also in tropical Asia from India and Sri Lanka to Indonesia |
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| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 16. Phiri, P.S.M. (2005). A Checklist of Zambian Vascular Plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 32 Page 20. Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 21. Townsend, C.C. (1988). Amaranthaceae Flora Zambesiaca 9(1) Pages 110 - 111. (Includes a picture). |
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