{{short description|Genus of flowering plants in the water-plantain family Alismataceae}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = BaldelliaRanunculoides.jpg |image_caption = ''Baldellia ranunculoides'' |taxon = Baldellia |authority = Parl. |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = See text }}
'''''Baldellia''''' is a genus of aquatic plants commonly known as '''lesser water-plantains'''. It includes three species found across much of Europe and the Mediterranean from Ireland and the Canary Islands to Turkey and Estonia.<ref name="rosacerros">{{Cite web|url=http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=300114|title=World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|website=apps.kew.org|language=en-GB|access-date=2017-01-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/taxa/index1.php?scientific-name=baldellia+ranunculoides|title=Baldellia ranunculoides [Mestolaccia minore]|website=luirig.altervista.org|language=it|access-date=2017-01-26}}</ref> The genus is named in honor of the Italian nobleman Bartolommeo Bartolini-Baldelli.<ref name=Genaust1983>Genaust, Helmut (1976). ''Etymologisches Wörterbuch der botanischen Pflanzennamen'' {{ISBN|3-7643-0755-2}}</ref><ref>http://www.zelkova.ch/sites/default/files/Kozlowski_et_al_PPEES_2008.pdf Baldellia ranunculoides</ref> ''Baldellia'' is very closely related to ''Echinodorus''.
==Description== Leaves aerial, elliptical to lanceolate or linear-lanceolate. Flowers hermaphrodite, in 1 – 3 whorls in umbels or racemes, or long-pedunculate in leaf-axils. Stamens 6. Carpels numerous, spirally arranged in a globose head, free, each with 1 ovule; styles apical. Fruitlets achenial, longitudinally 5-ribbed (3 dorsal ribs and 2 closely approximated ventral ribs), with a short, apical beak. 2n=16.
Variable in form according to ecological conditions.
==Species== Three species are recognized:<ref name="rosacerros"/>
* ''Baldellia alpestris'' <small>(Cosson) Vasc.</small> – northwestern Spain and northern Portugal * ''Baldellia ranunculoides'' <small>(L.) Parl.</small> **''Baldellia ranunculoides ''var'' ranunculoides'' – from the Azores and Ireland to Turkey and Estonia **''Baldellia ranunculoides ''var''. tangerina'' <small>(Pau) J.Rocha</small> – Spain, Portugal, Morocco * ''Baldellia repens'' <small>(Lam.) Ooststr</small> **''Baldellia repens ''subsp''. baetica'' <small>Talavera & Casimiro-Soriguer</small> – southwestern Spain **''Baldellia repens ''subsp''. cavanillesii'' <small>(Molina Abril, A.Galán, J.M.Pizarro & Sard.Rosc.) Talavera</small> – Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Netherlands **''Baldellia repens ''subsp''. repens'' – Canaries, Spain, Portugal, Algeria
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q763748}}
Category:Alismataceae Category:Alismataceae genera Category:Freshwater plants