Juncaginaceae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s, recognized by most taxonomists for the past few decades. It is also known as the ''arrowgrass'' family. It includes 3 genera with a total of 34 known species (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). The APG II system, of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system, of 1998), also recognizes such a family and places it in the order

Alismatales The Alismatales (alismatids) are an order of flowering plants including about 4,500 species. Plants assigned to this order are mostly tropical or aquatic. Some grow in fresh water, some in marine habitats. Description The Alismatales compri ...

, in the clade monocots. The species are found in cold or temperate regions in both the

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

and Southern Hemisphere. However APG IV (2016) removed the genus ''

Maundia ''Maundia '' is a genus of alismatid monocots, described in 1858. ''Maundia'' was formerly included in the family Juncaginaceae but is now considered to form a family of its own under the name Maundiaceae. It contains only one known species, ''Ma ...

'' due to its non-exclusive relationship, and elevated it to the

monogeneric In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

family Maundiaceae.

Description

Juncaginaceae are marsh or aquatic herbs with linear, sheathing basal leaves. The flowers are small and green in erect spikes or

racemes A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

. The flower parts come in threes, but the carpels are either 3 or 6, joined to a superior ovary. The fruit is a capsule. Example arrowgrasses ''

Triglochin ''Triglochin'' is a plant genus in the family Juncaginaceae described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. It is very nearly cosmopolitan in distribution, with species on every continent except Antarctica. North America has four accepted species, two of whi ...

'' include the Marsh Arrowgrass (''

Triglochin palustris ''Triglochin palustris'' or marsh arrowgrass is a species of flowering plant in the arrowgrass family Juncaginaceae. It is found in damp grassland usually on calcareous soils, fens and meadows. The species epithet ''palustris'' is Latin for "of ...

''), the Sea Arrowgrass (''

Triglochin maritima ''Triglochin maritima'' is a species of flowering plant in the arrowgrass family Juncaginaceae. It is found in brackish marshes, freshwater marshes, wet sandy beaches, fens, damp grassland and bogs. It has a circumboreal distribution, occurring ...

''), and also other species like ''

Triglochin trichophora ''Triglochin trichophora'' is an annual herb native to Australia. Description It grows as an annual herb from 5 to 15 centimetres in height. Taxonomy This species was published in 1846 by Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck. It has h ...

'', '' Triglochin striata'' and '' Triglochin mucronata''.

Taxonomy

The genus ''

'' was placed within the family Juncaginaceae by the APG II. The newer APG III version (2009), though, suggested it may be necessary to split ''Maundia'' off into its own

family, Maundiaceae, supported by the non-exclusive relationship of the genus to Juncaginaceae. This was achieved in the

APG IV The APG IV system of flowering plant classification is the fourth version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy for flowering plants (angiosperms) being developed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). It was publishe ...

(2016), leaving only four genera in Juncaginaceae.

References

Bibliography

* * * , in * * , in *

External links

*
Juncaginaceae
in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards).
The families of flowering plants
descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval.'' Version: 9 March 2006. http://delta-intkey.com
Juncaginaceae in the ''Flora of North America''

NCBI Taxonomy browser

links at CSDL, Texas

Juncaginaceae of Mongolia in FloraGREIF
{{Taxonbar, from=Q862544 Alismatales families Aquatic plants