Plants - Botany
For most gardeners the mention of botany brings with it the thought of school lessons with sprouting seeds and the boredom of floral formulae, and equations which demonstrated the process of photosynthesis. Most gardeners are happy to admit that although boring, some of what they learned at school has been useful in their gardening activities. Likewise botany is important for water gardeners, especially as the structure and behaviour of aquatic plants, and the manner in which this affects their environment is crucial to the well-being of the pond.
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 Understanding the behaviour of aquatic plants is essential to their successful cultivation.
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 The Botany section will become an invaluable resource.
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Botany on this web-site is intended to be informative, readable and invaluable for assisting with the care and cultivation of plants. Although not specifically directed at their cultivation in the majority of cases, the pages here are presented in such a manner that they are simple to interpret practically for successful gardening. As the pages develop they will build into an invaluable and varied resource for popular aquatic plant botany for water gardeners.
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Some presentations, as with the overview of the waterlilies, or Nymphaea, are also intend to fulfil a broadly educational remit, either as a starting point for the new enthusiast who wishes to take their studies further, or else for the interested who would like to know just a little more about the plants that they are growing, their evolution, anatomy and taxonomy. This is presented in a simple and readable fashion. Other important genera are being added and will provide an important encyclopedic resource.
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 Plant reviews offer an educational overview.
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The greatest problem with managing the botanical aspect of a gardening web-site like this is dealing with the issue of nomenclature and the correct citation of names. While complying as far as possible with the International Codes that govern both species and cultivars, certain liberties are taken over the application of names. For the most part, those that are used are the ones in common currency with the horticultural industry and home gardeners, even if the ourists would deem them scientifically inaccurate.
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 Botanical name changes are difficult to deal with. Peltiphyllum peltatum is now accepted to be Darmera peltata.
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This should not affect the gardener, but might offend the serious and academic botanist. Thus while there is an appreciation of the reasons for name changes and the reclassification of plants, such changes will not always be made immediately. For the most part the names by which gardeners know plants will be used, although where appropriate and necessary new names will be noted. The intention of the Botany pages is to steer a middle course through the learned and the popular and to introduce water gardeners to the hidden delights of their plants.
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When new discoveries are made about aquatic plants that are of general interest, but not necessarily directly relevant to the garden pond, these will be introduced with discretion for the water gardener’s interest. Likewise, established knowledge, which does not have wide circulation amongst gardeners, such as the nitrogen-fixing properties of the Fairy Moss, Azolla, will be introduced when the opportunity arises.
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 The nitrogen-fixing properties of Azolla are of great economic importance, and also of interest to the water gardener.
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