{{Short description|Genus of aquatic plants}} {{automatic taxobox |image = Caldesia parnassiifolia3.jpg |image_caption = ''Caldesia parnassifolia'' |taxon = Caldesia |authority = Parl. |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = See text }}

'''''Caldesia''''' is a genus of aquatic plants. It includes three living species widespread across Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=301593|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>[http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/taxa/index1.php?scientific-name=caldesia+parnassifolia Altervista Flora Italiana, Mestolaccia minore, Parnassus Leaved Water Plantain, ''Caldesia parnassifolia'']</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=105055|title=Caldesia in Flora of China @ efloras.org|website=www.efloras.org|access-date=2017-01-26}}</ref> The genus "has an extensive Oligocene through Pleistocene fossil record in Eurasia,"<ref>{{cite journal | last=Haggard | first=Kristina K. |author2=Tiffney, Bruce H. | year=1997 | title=The Flora of the Early Miocene Brandon Lignite, Vermont, USA. VIII. ''Caldesia'' (Alismataceae) | journal=American Journal of Botany | volume=84 | issue=2 | pages=239–252 | doi=10.2307/2446086 | publisher=American Journal of Botany, Vol. 84, No. 2 | jstor=2446086 | doi-access=free | pmid=21712204 }}</ref> and has been found in fossil strata of the United States (Idaho and Vermont) as well. Ten fossil species have been described for the genus.

==Taxonomy== The genus name of ''Caldesia'' is in honour of Ludovico (Luigi) Caldesi (1821 - 1884), an Italian politician and botanist.<ref>{{cite book | last=Burkhardt | first=Lotte | title=Eine Enzyklopädie zu eponymischen Pflanzennamen |trans-title=Encyclopedia of eponymic plant names | publisher=Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin | year=2022 | isbn=978-3-946292-41-8 | url=https://doi.org/10.3372/epolist2022|format=pdf |language=German |location=Berlin | doi=10.3372/epolist2022 |access-date=January 27, 2022}}</ref>

The genus was circumscribed by Filippo Parlatore in Fl. Ital. Vol.3 on page 598 in 1860.

==Description== Leaves all basal, floating or aerial, ovate to elliptical, cordate or subcordate. Flowers hermaphrodite, in racemes or panicles. Stamens 6(-11). Carpels few or numerous in a single whorl, free, each with 1 ovule; styles subventral. Fruitlets drupaceous, with woody endocarp and spongy exocarp, swollen, with a short subventral beak, smooth or with tubercles or spines.

==Selected species== * ''Caldesia brandoniana''&nbsp;† * ''Caldesia grandis'' <small>Sam.</small> - Assam, Bangladesh, southern China * ''Caldesia oligococca'' <small>(F.Muell.) Buchanan</small> **''Caldesia oligococca ''var''. acanthocarpa'' <small>(F.Muell.) Hartog</small> - Queensland, Northern Territory (of Australia) **''Caldesia oligococca ''var''. echinata'' <small>Hartog</small> - western Africa from Mali to Chad, plus India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Java **''Caldesia oligococca ''var''. oligococca'' - Timor, Queensland * ''Caldesia parnassifolia'' <small>(L.) Parl.</small> (synonym: ''Caldesia reniformis'' <small>(D.Don) Makino)</small> - widespread across Europe, Asia, Africa, Queensland

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

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Category:Alismataceae Category:Alismataceae genera Category:Freshwater plants

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