- Zosteraceae
image_width = 230px
image_caption = "Zostera noltii ", from Thomé (1885)
regnum =Plant ae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis =Liliopsida
ordo =Alismatales
familia = Zosteraceae
familia_authority =Dumort.
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision = "Heterozostera "
"Phyllospadix "
"Zostera "The
flowering plant family Zosteraceae, or the seagrasses, is a family of marine perennialherbs that grow incoastal waters oftemperate andsubtropical zones. Most of the seagrasses complete their entirelife cycle under water, [cite journal|last = Ackerman|first = JD|authorlink = http://www.unbc.ca/ensc/faculty.html|title = Submarine pollination in the marine angiosperm "Zostera marina" (Zosteraceae) I: The influence of floral morphology on fluid flow|journal = American Journal of Botany|volume = 84|issue = 8|pages = 1099–1109|publisher = Botanical Society of America|date = 1997|url = http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/reprint/84/8/1099?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&minscore=5000&resourcetype=HWCIT|accessdate = 2007-06-02|doi = 10.2307/2446153] with filamentouspollen especially adapted to dispersion in an aquatic environment, and with leaves lackingstomata for atmospheric gas exchange and regulation ofdesiccation .The family has long been recognized by taxonomists as
monophyletic . TheAPG II system , of 2003 (unchanged from theAPG system , of 1998), recognizes this family and places it in the orderAlismatales , in the clademonocots . The family consists of two or three genera totalling about a dozen species, of marine plants ("seagrass "). The plants have ribbonlike leaves and prominent creepingrhizome s.References
External links
* [http://delta-intkey.com/angio/www/Zosterac.htm Zosteraceae] in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards).
* [http://delta-intkey.com/angio/ The families of flowering plants] : descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval. Version: 27th April 2006.
* [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=10962 Zosteraceae in the "Flora of North America"]
* [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Tree&id=27254&lvl=3&lin=f&keep=1&srchmode=1&unlock NCBI Taxonomy Browser]
* [http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/cgi/gateway_family?fam=Zosteraceae links at CSDL, Texas]
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