Home / Anomalous_Items / Aquatic_Macrophytes / Emergent_Leaves / Peltandra
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Name derivation:
Common name ‘arrow arum’
Classification:
Peltandra Raf. Order Alismatales; Family Araceae Monocot
Morphology:
Leaves up to 40 cm high, blades up to 25 cm long. Flowers imperfect. Spadix covered with flowers; male flowers above are sessile with 4-8 anthers; female flowers below have a unlocular ovary. Fruit green or red and fleshy, covered by persistent base of spathe (Cook et al. 1974). Rhizomes (modified stems) in the sediments are food-storing organs that provide survival during droughts and freezing, so that above-ground stems and leaves often die back at the onset of growth-limiting seasons and develop again when rain and/or temperature increases (Sculthorpe 1967). Roots of Peltandra can survive in anoxic sediments through anaerobic respiration, producing ethanol at rates inversely related to dissolved oxygen depletion to concentrations less than 3% (saturation?).
Similar genera:
Superficially leaves of Pontederia are similar in their shape (but not pattern of veination).
Habitat:
Freshwater shallow habitats (marshes, lakeshores).
References:
Cook, C.D.K. 1974. Water plants of the World. Dr. W. Junk b.v., Publishers, The Hague (561 pp). Sculthorpe, C.D. 1967. The Biology of Aquatic Vascular Plants. Edward Arnold, Publishers Ltd., London.