Spermatophyta: Dicotyledonae: Metachlamydeae: Boraginales

Hydrophyllaceae - Wigandia family

Bailey, L.H. (1949) Manual of Cultivated Plants Revised edition. Macmillan, New York.

Verdcourt, B. (1990) Hydrophyllaceae Flora Zambesiaca 7(4)

Description of the family

Herbs or (in ours) a subshrubby herb or shrub, often scabrid. Stipules 0. Leaves usually alternate, simple (in ours) or compound. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic, in scorpioid cymes (in ours). Calyx deeply 5-lobed. Corolla 5-lobed. Stamens 5, inserted on tube. Ovary superior, 1(-2)-locular. Styles 1 or 2. Fruit a capsule, dehiscing by 2 valves.

Comment: This family is similar to the Boraginaceae, but it differs in the fruit being a capsule whereas in Boraginaceae, the fruit is a drupe or 1-4 nutlets.

Worldwide: 18 genera and 270 species, ± cosmopolitan, but mainly western North America; absent from Australia

Zimbabwe: 1 genus and 1 taxon.

Links to genera: View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this family

Genus	Content
Wigandia Kunth	Description, Image

Other sources of information about Hydrophyllaceae:

Our websites:

Flora of Zambia: Hydrophyllaceae
Flora of Zimbabwe: cultivated Hydrophyllaceae

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Hydrophyllaceae
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Hydrophyllaceae
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Hydrophyllaceae
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Hydrophyllaceae
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Hydrophyllaceae
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Hydrophyllaceae
JSTOR Plant Science: Hydrophyllaceae
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Hydrophyllaceae
Wikipedia: Hydrophyllaceae
Plants of the World Online: Hydrophyllaceae
Tropicos: Hydrophyllaceae