Plants freshwater or marine aquatic herbs, annual or perennial. Leaves usually in basal rosettes, cauline whorls, distichous, rarely opposite, sometomes sheathong at the base. Inflorescences of solitary or paired flowers or in umbel-like groups, enclosed by 2 separate or fused bracts. Tepals 3 or 6, free, when 6 the outer 3 may be sepaloid and the inner 3 petaloid; stamens 2-many, the innermost or outermost often sterile; anthers 2-thecous, basifixed, longitudinally dehiscent; ovaries inferior, composed of (2- )3-6(-20) carpels, usually 1-celled; styles as many as the carpels; ovules few to many. Fruits fleshy, berry-like capsules, dehiscent or openung by decay of the pericarp; seeds small, with straight embryos, without endosperm.
The family Hydrocharitaceae includes about16 genera and almost 100 species, It is cosmopolitan in its distribution. There are no records from Somaliland. Sartori states that the genera he wrote up (Enhalus and Talassia) are likely to extend further north than the records he encountered but the records cited in the Flora are from regions C1, C2, S1fwhich were from regions C1, C2, S2, and S3. GBIF has no additional records (2021-04-27).
