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Marsileaceae
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Marsileaceae

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Marsileaceae is a small family of heterosporous aquatic and semi-aquatic ferns, though at first sight they do not physically resemble other ferns. The group is commonly known as the "pillwort family" after the genus Pilularia (pillwort), "pepperwort family" or as the "water-clover family" because the leaves of the genus Marsilea superficially resemble the leaves of a four-leaf clover. The family contains three genera; most of the species are in Marsilea. It is sister to the Salviniaceae, which is also aquatic and heterosporous. Fossils of the family are known as far back as the Triassic. The f

Species

FAMILY

  1. KingdomPlantae
  2. PhylumTracheophyta
  3. ClassPolypodiopsida
  4. OrderSalviniales
  5. FamilyMarsileaceae
Habitatbrackish, freshwater
Observations recorded83,481

via GBIF · Kew POWO

Museum specimens

Specimen records
45
With media
23
Family
Marsiliaceae
Collections
ANSP, RSA, TAES, IMA, IAP, IPA
Recorded in
United States, Kenya, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Brasil, Not Listed

Wikidata facts

Instance of
taxon
Image
Marsilea quadrifolia denjisou01.jpg
Show 6 more facts
Commons category
Marsileaceae
taxon rank
family
taxon name
Marsileaceae
topic's main category
Category:Marsileaceae
taxon common name
marzilkovke
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~9 min read

Encyclopedic overview

7 sections
Contents
  • Taxonomy
  • Morphology
  • Life cycle
  • Ecology
  • Human uses
  • References
  • External links

Marsileaceae is a small family of heterosporous aquatic and semi-aquatic ferns, though at first sight they do not physically resemble other ferns. The group is commonly known as the "pillwort family" after the genus Pilularia (pillwort), "pepperwort family" or as the "water-clover family" because the leaves of the genus Marsilea superficially resemble the leaves of a four-leaf clover. The family contains three genera; most of the species are in Marsilea. It is sister to the Salviniaceae, which is also aquatic and heterosporous. Fossils of the family are known as far back as the Triassic. The family is distinctive in producing its spores inside sporocarps, which are bean-shaped structures borne near the bases of the leaves. Some species of Marsilea are grown in garden pools or aquaria.

== Taxonomy ==

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Marsileaceae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (8)