Plants with young vegetative parts often rust-colored pubescent, barely mucilaginous. Leaves submersed and floating, short to long petiolate. Submersed leaves conspicuous, basal to apical on stem throughout vegetative period; leaf blade cordate in outline, palmately dissected into dichotomously (trichotomously) branched segments. Floating leaves inconspicuous, alternate, apical on stem only during flowering; leaf blade linear-elliptic or rarely hastate, peltate, base entire or notched. Flowers entomophilous, short pedunculate; perianth showy. Sepals petaloid, obovate. Petals oval, base auriculate. Stamens 3--6, opposite petals. Pistils (1 or)2--4; ovules (1--)3(--5); stigmas capitate. Fruit long pyriform, apically tapered. Seeds ovoid (to subglobose), tuberculate.

Source: [
• 1
]. 

Herbs , young vegetative parts often with rust-colored pubescence, barely mucilaginous. Leaves submersed and floating; petiole short to long. Submersed leaves: blade in 3-7 dichotomously [trichotomously] branched, linear segments. Floating leaves: blade terminal, linear-elliptic [broadly elliptic], margins entire or notched at base, appearing only during flowering, inconspicuous [more evident in C . aquatica , a tropical species]. Flowers: sepals 3, petaloid, obovate; petals 3, oval, with proximal, yellow, nectar-bearing auricles, base clawed; stamens 3-6, opposite petals; pistils [1-]2-4, simple, 1-locular; ovules [1-]3[-5]; stigma capitate. Fruits elongate-pyriform, tapered to apex. Seeds ovoid [somewhat globose], tuberculate. x = 13.

Source: [
• 2
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CABOMBA Aubl.

Rizomas cortos, simpódicos, produciendo varios tallos erectos. Hojas flotantes inconspicuas (excepto en C. aquatica Aubl.), terminales, alternas, opuestas u opuestas a las hojas sumergidas, presentes solamente junto con las flores, láminas lineares a ampliamente elípticas, cuando angostas ahusadas en uno o ambos extremos, peltadas o con seno basal; hojas sumergidas opuestas o verticiladas, pecíolos hasta 4 cm de largo, láminas palmatisectas, con 3–7 segmentos principales lineares, éstos con ramificaciones dicotómicas o tricotómicas. Flores emergentes, hasta 12 mm de largo cuando en yema, blancas a rosado-moradas o amarillas; sépalos 3; pétalos 3, auriculados o abruptamente adelgazados en la base; estambres 3–6, extrorsos; carpelos 1–4, cada uno atenuado hasta un estilo corto y un estigma terminal y esférico, óvulos 1–5. Frutos ovoides, ahusados hacia el ápice; semillas 1–5.

Género con 6 ó 7 especies distribuidas desde el este de los Estados Unidos hasta Argentina; 2 especies se encuentran en Nicaragua y una tercera se espera encontrar.

J.H. Wiersema. A new species of Cabomba from Tropical America. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 76: 1167–1168. 1989.

Source: [
• 3
]. 

Mostly submerged, slender, caulescent and rhizomatous, mucilaginous, aquatic herbs. Leaves monomorphic to polymorphic; submerged leaves opposite or ternate, long-petiolate, the blades dissected into 5-9 trichotomizing or dichotomizing seg- ments, the ultimate divisions more or less linear; floating leaves when present alternate, peltate, bifurcate, linear-elliptic to ovate. Flowers trimerous, perfect, cyclic, hypogynous, solitary on long axillary pedicels, ultimately floating, white to yellow or purple; sepals 3, slightly connate at the base; petals 3, slightly connate at the base, unguiculate, often auriculate; stamens 3-6, the filaments slender, the oblong anthers extrorse; carpels 1-4, free, each with 3 pendulous ovules, the styles longer than the capitate stigmata. Fruiting carpels diverging, each usually with 3 seeds, the seeds elongate, with hygroscopic processes, the embryo surrounded by a small layer of endosperm and a copious perisperm.

Source: [
• 4
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"Sep and pet similar, both petaloid; stamens 3–6; anthers extrorse; pistils 3–6; principal lvs opposite, palmately finely dissected, submersed; some small, alternate lvs with floating, entire, peltate blade usually also present. 7, New World."

Source: [
• 5
]. 

herbs

Source: [
• 4
]. 

As revised by Fassett (in Castanea 18: 116. 1953), this New World genus consists of seven species, of which only the following is known to occur in Panama.

Source: [
• 4
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SELECTED REFERENCES

Fassett, N. C. 1953. A monograph of Cabomba. Castanea 13: 116-128. O/rgaard, M. 1991. The genus Cabomba (Cabombaceae)--A taxonomic study. Nordic J. Bot. 11: 179-203.

Source: [
• 2
].