水蕹科只有一属—水蕹属（Aponogeton），约30余种，分布于东南亚、澳洲和非洲，主要品种都在南非，都是水生草本植物。中国只有一种—水蕹（A. lakhonensis A.Camus）。1981年的克朗奎斯特分类法将其分入茨藻目，1998年的根据基因亲源关系分类的APG 分类法以及2003年修订后的APG II 分类法都将其并入泽泻目。

本科植物生长于浅水塘中，叶沉水或浮水；花两性，辐射对称；茎有块状的根茎；果实为革质的蓇葖果。

The Aponogetonaceae (Cape-pondweed family or Aponogeton family) are a family of flowering plants in the order Alismatales. The Aponogetonaceae is considered to be allied to the Potamogetonaceae - Najadaceae complex of families.

In recent decades the family has had universal recognition by taxonomists. The APG system (1998) and APG II system (2003) treat it in the order Alismatales in the clade monocots. The family consists of only one genus, Aponogeton, with 40–50 species of aquatic plants, most of which have been included in a molecular phylogeny by Chen et al. (2015). The name was published in Supplementum Plantarum 32: 214 (1782) and is derived from a geographic location. Some species are used as ornamental plants in aquariums.