Family:
Araceae Juss.

Wolffiella Hegelm.

This genus is accepted, and its native range is America, Africa to Arabian Peninsula.

[FSOM]

M. Thulin. Flora of Somalia, Vol. 1–4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Distribution
Eight species in tropical or subtropical Africa and America.
Morphology Leaves
Fronds floating or submerged, flat
Morphology Roots
Roots absent
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Floral pit dorsal, without a spathe, with 1 male and 1 female flower
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens Anthers
Anther thecae 1-celled
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit slightly compressed, 1-seeded; seed smooth.

[CATE]

CATE Araceae, 17 Dec 2011. araceae.e-monocot.org

Diagnostic
Free floating aquatic plants, reduced to small, leaf-like, poorly differentiated fronds; roots and veins lacking, crystal cells lacking, seeds nearly smooth. Differs from Wolffia in having fronds flat, with air spaces, daughter fronds produced in a terminal flat pouch and flowers originating in a cavity at the side of the median line of the upper surface.
General Description
Fronds thin, orbicular oblong to linear or falcate; terminal pouche triangular and flat; frond with 1 layer of air spaces; flowers originating in a cavity (2 cavities in W. welwitschii) at the side of the median line of the upper surface of the frond. pistil with 1 atropous ovule.
Distribution
America, Africa.

[FTEA]

Lemnaceae, F. N. Hepper. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1973

Morphology General Habit
Small aquatic herb, submerged except for a portion of each thallus at water-level where a few stomata are present
Morphology General Thallus
Thallus thin, undulate and falcate; daughter thallus budding from a flattened-conical pouch, sometimes forming a chain of several individuals in still water
Morphology Roots
Roots absent
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers rarely produced in 2 pits at either side of mid-line on upper surface, 1 ♂ flower (with 1 stamen) and 1 ♀ flower occurring in each pit
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Pistil
Style short; ovule 1, orthotropous
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit with persistent style
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seed spherical-turbinate; testa reticulate.

[FTEA]

Lemnaceae, F. N. Hepper. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1973

Morphology General Habit
Small aquatic herbs, floating on the surface of pools
Morphology General Thallus
Daughter thallus budding from a symmetric pouch opening by a transverse slit with a longmembranous, ± widened median stipe on the underside Thallus flat, with air-spaces, upper surface provided with numerous stomata
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers in a solitary lateral or almost median pit.

Native to:

Alabama, Angola, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Arkansas, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, California, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Central African Repu, Chad, Chile Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Delaware, District of Columbia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Florida, French Guiana, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Illinois, Indiana, Jamaica, Kentucky, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Leeward Is., Louisiana, Malawi, Mali, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mississippi, Missouri, Mozambique, New Jersey, Nigeria, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Panamá, Paraguay, Pennsylvania, Peru, Puerto Rico, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Carolina, Sudan, Suriname, Tanzania, Tennessee, Texas, Togo, Trinidad-Tobago, Uganda, Uruguay, Venezuela, Virginia, Washington, Windward Is., Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe

Introduced into:

India

Wolffiella Hegelm. appears in other Kew resources:

First published in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 21: 303 (1895)

Accepted by

  • Govaerts, R. & Frodin, D.G. (2002). World Checklist and Bibliography of Araceae (and Acoraceae): 1-560. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Literature

Flora of West Tropical Africa

  • Monod in Mém. Soc. Afr. Nord, Hors-Sér. 2: 229-242 (1949).
  • in Engl., Bot. Jahrb. 21: 303 (1895)

CATE Araceae

  • Landolt, E. 1998. Lemnaceae The Families and Genera of Flowering Plants.. 4: 264-270
  • Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 2008. World Checklist of Selected Plant Families.

Flora of Somalia

  • Flora Somalia, Vol 4, (1995) Author: by M. Thulin [updated by M. Thulin 2008]

  • CATE Araceae

    Haigh, A., Clark, B., Reynolds, L., Mayo, S.J., Croat, T.B., Lay, L., Boyce, P.C., Mora, M., Bogner, J., Sellaro, M., Wong, S.Y., Kostelac, C., Grayum, M.H., Keating, R.C., Ruckert, G., Naylor, M.F. and Hay, A., CATE Araceae, 17 Dec 2011.
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of Somalia

    Flora of Somalia
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0