Biology:Cabombaceae
The Cabombaceae are a family of aquatic, herbaceous flowering plants. A common name for its species is water shield.[1] The family is recognised as distinct in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group IV system (2016). The family consists of two genera of aquatic plants, Brasenia and Cabomba, totalling six species.[2]
Description

Vegetative characteristics
Cabombaceae are perennial, rhizomatous, aquatic herbs[1][3] with slender, branched rhizomes and adventitious roots.[3] The leaves are whorled, alternate, or opposite. Both floating and submerged leaves are produced.[4]
Generative characteristics
The solitary, pedunculate, bisexual,[5] chasmogamous, actinomorphic, inodorous[6] flowers float on the water surface or extend beyond it.[5] The gynoecium consists of (1–)2–18 free carpels.[7] The indehiscent,[8][4] follicle-like or achene-like fruit[7] bears 1–3 seeds.[7][4]
Distribution
The Cabombaceae are all aquatic, living in still or slow-moving waters of temperate and tropical North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Although found on all continents but Antarctica, the plants tend to grow in relatively restricted ranges.[9]
Fossil record
The family has an extensive fossil record from the Cretaceous with plants that exhibit affinities to either the Cabombaceae or Nymphaeaceae occurring in the Early Cretaceous.[9]
One such likely Cretaceous member is the genus Pluricarpellatia, found in rocks 115 million years old in what is now Brazil.[10] Scutifolium jordanicum David W.Taylor, G.J.Brenner et S.H.Basha has been described from the Lower Cretaceous of Jordan.[11] Garasbahia flexuosa Krassilov et Bachia has been described from the mid-Cretaceous of Morocco.[12]
Taxonomy
Publication
The family Cabombaceae Rich. ex A.Rich. was first published in 1822 by Louis Claude Richard, but initial description did not satisfy the requirements for valid publications. The family then was validated by Achille Richard.[13]
Taxonomic history
The APG system of 1998 included this family in the water lily family Nymphaeaceae, as did the APG II system, of 2003 (optionally). The APG III and APG IV systems of classification separated the family Cabombaceae from the family Nymphaeaceae.[14][15][16] The family is part of the order Nymphaeales, which is one of the most basal flowering plant lineages.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Watson, L.; Dallwitz, M. J.. "The families of flowering plants, Cabombaceae". http://delta-intkey.com/angio/www/cabombac.htm.
- ↑ Brgaard, Marian (1991). "The genus Cabomba (Cabombaceae) - a taxonomic study". Nordic Journal of Botany 11 (2): 179–203. doi:10.1111/j.1756-1051.1991.tb01819.x.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cabombaceae in Flora of North America @ efloras.org. (n.d.). Retrieved February 17, 2025, from http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=10140
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Cabombaceae. (n.d.). VicFlora Flora of Victoria. Retrieved February 17, 2025, from https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/0fbf1892-c184-4ba6-8217-f627ab8fb0ec
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Cabombaceae in Flora of China @ efloras.org. (n.d.). Retrieved February 17, 2025, from http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=10140
- ↑ Pellegrini, M. O. O. & Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. (n.d.-e). Cabombaceae Rich. ex A.Rich. Flora E Funga Do Brasil. Retrieved February 17, 2025, from https://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/FB69
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 T.D. Stanley, A.E. Orchard. Cabombaceae, in P.G. Kodeal (ed.), Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Cabombaceae [Date Accessed: 18 February 2025]
- ↑ Bory de Saint-Vincent. (1822). Dictionnaire classique d’histoire naturelle (Vol. 2, p. 608). Rey et Gravier, Libraries-Editeurs, Auai des Augustins, no. 55; Baudouin Frèrer, Libraries-Editeurs, Imprimeurs de la société D’Histoire Naturelle, Rue de Vaugirard, no. 36. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/25672588
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Friis, Else Marie; Crane, Peter R.; Pederses, Kaj Raunsgaard (2011). Early Flowers and Angiosperm Evolution. Cambridge University Press. 9781139123921.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedAPWeb - ↑ Taylor, D. W., Brenner, G. J., & Basha, S. D. H. (2008). "Scutifolium jordanicum gen. et sp. nov.(Cabombaceae), an aquatic fossil plant from the Lower Cretaceous of Jordan, and the relationships of related leaf fossils to living genera. American Journal of Botany, 95(3), 340-352.
- ↑ Krassilov, V.; Bacchia, F. (2013-03-01). "New Cenomanian florule and a leaf mine from southeastern Morocco: Palaeoecological and climatological inferences". Cretaceous Research 40: 218–226. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2012.07.005. ISSN 0195-6671. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195667112001243.
- ↑ "Cabombaceae Rich. ex A.Rich." (in en). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/281437-2. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
- ↑ Iles, W.J.D.; Lee, C.; Sokoloff, D.D.; Remizowa, M.V.; Yadav, S.R.; Barrett, M.D.; Barrett, R.L.; Macfarlane, T.D. et al. (2014). "Reconstructing the age and historical biogeography of the ancient flowering-plant family Hydatellaceae (Nymphaeales)". BMC Evolutionary Biology 14 (1): 102. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-14-102. PMID 24884487.
- ↑ Saarela, J.M.; Rai, H.; Doyle, J.; Endress, P.; Mathews, S.; Marchant, A.; Briggs, B.; Graham, S. (2007). "Hydatellaceae identified as a new branch near the base of the angiosperm phylogenetic tree". Nature 446 (7133): 312–315. doi:10.1038/nature05612. PMID 17361182. Bibcode: 2007Natur.446..312S. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3652&context=biosci_pubs.
- ↑ Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2016). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG IV". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 181 (1): 1–20. doi:10.1111/boj.12385. ISSN 0024-4074.
Further reading
- Simpson, M.G. Plant Systematics. Elsevier Academic Press. 2006.
External links
Data related to Cabombaceae at Wikispecies
Template:Angiosperm families Wikidata ☰ Q856266 entry
