Euryale (plant)
A prickly aquatic genus with one living species.
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Euryale is a genus of flowering plants in the family Nymphaeaceae, comprising one extant species, Euryale ferox, and several fossil species. It is notable for its prickly aquatic leaves and flowers, and for its evolutionary relationship with the genus Victoria, with which it may be placed within the genus Nymphaea.
Scientific classification
- CladeTracheophytes
- CladeAngiosperms
- OrderNymphaeales
- FamilyNymphaeaceae
- GenusEuryale
Named by Salisb.
Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Euryale (plant) (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Quick Facts
- Type species
- Euryale ferox Salisb. ex K.D. Koenig & Sims
Facts from the source article.
Background
Euryale is an annual or perennial, rhizomatous, aquatic herb with erect, unbranched rhizomes. Its adaxial leaf surface is green with prickles at the veins, while the abaxial surface is violet with prominent, prickly venation.
The thin, sharp prickles are 3–11 mm long and 1–2 mm wide at the base. The flowers are pedunculate, 5 cm wide, with prickly peduncles and sepals, and have four persistent sepals. The gynoecium consists of 7–16 carpels, and the prickly fruit bears 8–20 black, arillate seeds that are spherical, ovate, obovate, or ellipsoidal, 6–10 mm wide, with a hard, smooth, wrinkled, gnarled, or irregularly ridged testa.
Did You Know?
- The chromosome count of Euryale ferox is 2n = 58.
- Euryale seeds and prickles are well preserved in the fossil record, and pollen fossils are also known.
More in Aquarium and Aquatic Plants
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Euryale (plant) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the Codexery glossary, each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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