Trithuria is a
genus of small ephemeral
aquaticherb that represent the only members of the family
Hydatellaceae found in
India,
Australia, and
New Zealand.[1][2] All 13 described species of Trithuria are found in Australia, with the exception of T. inconspicua and T. konkanensis, from New Zealand and India respectively.[3][4] Until DNA sequence data and a reinterpretation of morphology proved otherwise, these plants were believed to be monocots related to the grasses (Poaceae). They are unique in being the only plants besides two members of
Triuridaceae (Lacandonia schizmatica and L. braziliana) in which the stamens are centred and surrounded by the pistils; in Hydatellaceae the resulting 'flowers' may instead represent condensed inflorescences or non-flowers.[5]
These diminutive, superficially moss-like, aquatic plants are the closest living relatives of a clade comprising two closely related water-lily families
Nymphaeaceae and
Cabombaceae.[6] Together, these three families compose the
orderNymphaeales in the
APG III system of flowering plant classification. Trithuria (Hydatellaceae) diverged from the rest of Nymphaeales soon after Nymphaeales diverged from its
sister taxon, although the
crown clade evolved relatively recently, in the early Miocene (~19 Ma;[7]). The order as a whole is the sister group of all flowering plants except
Amborellales.
Trithuria exhibits a remarkable similarity to Centrolepis and species of both genera were mistaken for members of the other genus.[8]
Taxonomy
The genus Hydatella was subsumed into Trithuria as its members are phylogenetically nested in it. The family as a whole shares the following features (
morphologicalsynapomorphies[3])
lack of a vascular cambium
lack of pericyclic sclerenchyma
anomocytic stomata
truncate anther connective
boat-shaped pollen
inner integument with two cell layers
palisade exotesta
seed operculum formed by cell enlargement in the inner integument
Trithuria polybracteata D.A.Cooke ex D.D.Sokoloff, Remizowa, T.D.Macfarl. & Rudall - Western Australia
Trithuria submersa Hook.f. - Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania
Etymology
The generic name Trithuria is composed of two parts: the Greek words treis meaning "three", and thyris meaning "window". It references the dehiscence of the fruit.[12] Specifically, it references the
pericarp valves of some Trithuria species.[13]
Cytology
The diploid chromosome count of Trithuria inconspicua subsp. inconspicua is 2n = c. 24.
The diploid chromosome count of Trithuria submersa is 2n = 56.[13] The diploid chromosome count of the tetraploid species Trithuria konkanensis 2n = 40.[14] The diploid chromosome count of Trithuria australis is 2n = 14.[15]
^
abDmitry D. Sokoloff, Margarita V. Remizowa, Terry D. Macfarlane, and Paula J. Rudall. 2008. "Classification of the early-divergent angiosperm family Hydatellaceae: one genus instead of two, four new species and sexual dimorphism in dioecious taxa". Taxon57(1):179-200.
^Yadav SR, Janarthanam MK. 1995 Trithuria konkanensis (Hydatellaceae), eine neue Art aus Indien. Aqua Planta20. (3): 91-97 (1995).
^Sokoloff, D. D., Marques, I., Macfarlane, T. D., Remizowa, M. V., Lam, V. K. Y., Pellicer, J., … Graham, S. W. (2019). Cryptic species in an ancient flowering-plant lineage (Hydatellaceae, Nymphaeales) revealed by molecular and micromorphological data. TAXON, 68(1), 1–19. doi:10.1002/tax.12026