Pteridophyta: Isoetales

Isoetaceae - Quillwort family

Crouch, N.R., Klopper, R.R., Burrows, J.E. & Burrows, S.M. (2011) Ferns of Southern Africa, A comprehensive guide Struik Nature

Jacobsen, W.B.G. (1983) The Ferns and Fern Allies of Southern Africa. Butterworths, Durban and Pretoria.

Roux, J.P. (2001) Conspectus of Southern African Pteridophyta. Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report 13

Schelpe, E.A.C.L.E. (1970) Pteridophyta Flora Zambesiaca

Description of the family

Small, submerged or emergent aquatic plants, evergreen or decidiuous, occurring in aquatic or seasonally wet habitats. Rhizome short, corm-like; rootlets dichotomously branched, arising from a basipetal growing point beneath the rhizome. Leaves in a rosette, flat or cylindrical, grass-like, leaf base spathulate with a membranous margin and a delicate triangular ligule on upper surface where leaf narrows. Sporangia sessile, ovoid or globose, initially embedded in the adaxial surface of the leaf base below the ligule, partially or entirely covered by a thin membranous outgrowth (velum), heterosporous.

Worldwide: 1 genus and ± 150 species, cosmopolitan apart from the Pacific Islands.

Mozambique: 1 genus and 2 taxa.

Isoetes alstonii

Links to genera:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this family

GenusContent
Isoetes L.Description, Image

Other sources of information about Isoetaceae:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Isoetaceae
Flora of Malawi: Isoetaceae
Flora of Zambia: Isoetaceae
Flora of Zimbabwe: Isoetaceae

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Isoetaceae
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
GRIN (Germplasm Resources Information Network) taxonomy for plants report for Isoetaceae
Wikipedia: Isoetaceae


Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave 2007-23

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2023). Flora of Mozambique: Family page: Isoetaceae.
https://www.mozambiqueflora.com/speciesdata/family.php?family_id=111, retrieved 2 April 2023

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