Podostemaceae
River Weed Family
The Podostemaceae family (River Weed Family) is a botanical family placed in the order Malpighiales. In the SASYA catalogue it spans 5 species across 4 genera. Its members are predominantly herbs. Well-represented genera include Polypleurum, Indotristicha and Podostemum. Several members are valued in traditional medicine.
Browse all 5 species ↓
Small, often moss- or lichen-like herbs that cling directly to rocks in fast-flowing river rapids using a flattened, root-like holdfast, their true leaves and stems reduced almost beyond recognition; tiny flowers emerge briefly above the waterline only when river levels drop.
So highly modified for underwater rock-clinging life that many species are almost unrecognisable as flowering plants at all until they briefly flower during the dry season.
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Notable members
All 5 species in PODOSTEMACEAE
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