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Aponogeton
Also called Cape Pondweeds, Waterblommetjies, Aponogetons
Aponogeton is a genus of aquatic plants in the Aponogetonaceae family, with about 56 species from tropical and warm temperate Africa, Asia and Australasia. Commonly grown members, such as the Madagascar lace plant, are kept in aquariums and ponds and need cool, clean, well-oxygenated water.
The Aponogetonaceae (the Cape-pondweed family or aponogeton family) are a family of flowering plants in the order Alismatales.
In recent decades the family has had universal recognition by taxonomists. The APG system (1998) and APG II system (2003) treat it in the order Alismatales in the clade monocots. The family consists of only one genus, Aponogeton, with 56 known species (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ) of aquatic plants, most of which have been included in a molecular phylogeny by Chen et al. (2015). The name was published in Supplementum Plantarum 32: 214 (1782) and is derived from a geographic location neighboring (geton) the Apono tribal district of coastal Gabon. Some species are used as ornamental plants in aquariums.
All Aponogeton species are easy to grow when their preferences are met. The Madagascar lace plants (A. madagascarensis) require special handling as they prefer cooler water – 70 °F (21 °C) as a maximum. As of 2010, the Australian species exist in very small numbers in the hobby trade.
They are aquatic plants, which are found in tropical to warm temperate regions of Africa, Asia and Australasia.
The tubers of several species are eaten by humans and their livestock. Some are grown as ornamental plants in aquariums or ponds. The 1889 book 'The Useful Native Plants of Australia' says of A. elongatus that "The tuberous roots of these water-plants are starchy, and of excellent taste, though not large".
Aponogeton abyssinicus · Aponogeton azureus · Aponogeton bernierianus · Aponogeton boivinianus · Aponogeton capuronii · Crinkled Aponogeton · Cape pondweed · Aponogeton lakhonensis · Aponogeton longiplumulosus · Lace Plant · Drifting Sword Plant · Sehlabathebe Waterblommetjie
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Aponogeton by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
