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Service Notice

The Western Australian Herbarium’s collections management system, WAHerb, and DBCA’s flora taxonomic names application, WACensus, have been set to read-only mode since 1 October 2025. Recent taxonomic changes are not currently being reflected in Florabase, herbarium collections, or the census. Due to the rapidly approaching holiday season and associated agency and facility soft closures, along with the substantial work involved in data mapping, cleaning, and verification, the migration to the new collection management software is not expected to occur before 1 March 2026, when a further update will be provided. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

The notice period started at 9:45 am on Friday, 12 December 2025 +08:00 and will end at 12:00 pm on Monday, 2 March 2026 +08:00.

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Callitrichaceae Link

This name is not current. Find out more information on related names.

Reference
Enum. Hort. Berol. Alt. 1:7 (1821)
Name Status
Not Current

Scientific Description

Common name. Water-starwort Family.

Habit and leaf form. Aquatic herbs. Annual; plants with neither basal nor terminal concentrations of leaves, or with terminal rosettes of leaves. Hydrophytic, or helophytic; rooted. Leaves submerged, or emergent, or submerged and emergent. Heterophyllous (usually), or not heterophyllous. Leaves opposite (decussate, to rosetted towards branch tips); not gland-dotted; simple, or simple and compound (linear and bifid when submerged); epulvinate. Leaf blades dissected, or entire; when dissected, dichotomously dissected. Leaves without stipules. Stem anatomy. Secondary thickening absent.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers functionally male and functionally female, or functionally male, or functionally female. Unisexual flowers present. Plants monoecious, or dioecious. Sometimes pollinated by water.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers solitary (usually), or aggregated in ‘inflorescences’ (rarely, then paired). Inflorescences and flowers axillary. Flowers commonly bracteolate (the bracteoles hornlike); minute. Perianth absent. Fertile stamens present (male flowers), or absent (female flowers). Androecium in male flowers 1. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 1. Anthers dehiscing via longitudinal slits. Fertile gynoecium present (female flowers), or absent (male flowers). Gynoecium in female flowers 2 carpelled. The pistil 4 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synovarious; superior. Ovary plurilocular; 2 locular (morphologically), or 4 locular (ostensibly, via a ‘false septum’, cf. Labiatae). Locules secondarily divided by ‘false septa’. Ovary sessile. Styles 2; free; from a depression at the top of the ovary; apical. Stigmas 2. Placentation apical. Ovules 2 per locule (i.e. 2 per ‘carpel’), or 1 per locule (per locellus); pendulous; anatropous.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit non-fleshy; a schizocarp. Mericarps comprising nutlets. Seeds endospermic (the endosperm fleshy). Cotyledons 2. Embryo straight. Seedling. Germination phanerocotylar.

Physiology, biochemistry. Photosynthetic pathway: C3.

Geography, cytology, number of species. World distribution: cosmopolitan, except South Africa. X = 3 or 5(+). 25 species.