Ottelia

Ottelia alismoides

Ottelia is a string of 21 species plant genus in the family of frog bite plants ( Hydrocharitaceae ).

Description

Ottelia species are perennial, herbaceous freshwater plants. The shoot axis is usually Compactor kormusähnlich. The leaves are basal, stalked and scheidig usually at the base. The leaf blade is submerged or sometimes floating on the water surface. It is linear to broadly ovate and 3 to 11- veined. The spathe is ellipitisch to ovoid and usually 2 to 6 -leaf. Your tip is two - or three divided. It has one to many flowers. The flowers are bisexual or unisexual, in the latter case the plants are dioecious. Male flowers usually have a longer pedicel. Hermaphrodite and female flowers are short-stalked and or have no stalk. The sepals are greenish and linear, oblong or ovate. The three petals are colored, round to broadly obovate and much longer and wider than the sepals. There are 3-15 stamens present. The stamens are linear and flattened. Staminodes in female flowers are often three present, rarely 2, 1, or they are missing. The ovary consists of 3, 6, 9, or rarely even more carpels. The ovules are numerous. The stylus are going 2 linealische scars. The fruits are cylindrical, spindle-shaped or conical. The numerous seeds are small and often hairy.

Occurrence

The genus comes from the tropics to temperate climates.

System

The genus was first described in 1805 by Ottelia Christian Hendrik Persoon. It includes about 21 species (selection):

• Ottelia acuminata ( Gagnepain ) Dandy Ottelia acuminata var acuminata
• Ottelia acuminata var crispa ( Handel-Mazzetti ) H. Li
• Ottelia acuminata var jingxiensis HQ Wang and SC Sun
• Ottelia acuminata var lunanensis H. Li

Documents

• Qingfeng Wang, Youhao Guo, Robert R. Haynes, C. Barre Hellquist: Ottelia. In: Flora of China Vol 23 Hydrocharitaceae, pp. 91 and 95 (online)