29 
233. HYDROPHYLAX MARITIMA. 
Linn. sp. pl. ed. Willden. 1. p. 581. 
Sarissus anceps. Gert. sem. 1. p. 118.4.25.f. 4, 
DESCRIPTION. 
Root perennial. 
Stems no other than many long, slender, variously bent, straggling, 
round, coloured branches, running over the sand, and often 
striking root from the joints. 
Leaves opposite, approximate, short-petioled, elliptic, fleshy, re- 
curved, rather acute, smooth, deep green, with hisped 
margins. 
Connecting membrane, with the petioles form a deep, stem-clasp- 
ing, dentated cup. 
Flowers axillary, subsessile, one or two together, of a pale pink 
colour. 
Calyx above, four-parted ; divisions broad-ensiform, permanent ; 
tube hairy on the inside near the bottom. 
Corol campanulate ; tube hairy on the inside near the bottom; 
the four divisions of the border ovate, spreading, with their 
apices somewhat revolute. 
Filaments four, erect, shorter than the corol, and inserted on the 
mouth of its tube, opposite to its fissures. Anthers purple. 
Germ oblong. Style length of the corol. Stigma of two round lobes. 
Pericarp, when ripe a dry Berry, of a lanceolate shape; crowned 
with the remaining calyx, two-celled, with a single, linear- 
oblong seed in each, &c. as described and figured by Gertner, 
under the name Sarissus anceps. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
A native of the sand hills along the shores of Coromandel and 
Malabar, where it is in blossom most part of the year. 
234. TRAPA BISPINOSA. 
Nuts with two opposite, straight, barbed, spinous horns. Nec- 
tary cup-shaped, curled, 
Sringataca, Asiatic resear. vol. 2. p. 350. 
Sringata, its Sanscrit name. See Asiatic resear. vol. 4.p. 258. 
Singhara, of the Bengalese and Hindoos. 
Panover-T'sjeraua. Rheed. Mal. v.11. p. 65. t. 33, is evidently 
intended for this plant, and not for T. natans. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Root numerous, simple, capillary fibres, issue from the under 
margins of the cicatrizes of the fallen leaves. 
Stems stoloniferous, often several feet long, floating, or when the 
water dries up, running along the mud. 
Leaves petioled, alternate, approximate round the apex of the 
shoots ; of a rhomboidal-reniform shape, with the posterior 
TRAPA BISPINOSA. 50 
margins entire, and the anterior serrate-dentate ; above 
smooth, deep green ; villous and purple underneath ; from 
3 to 4 inches broad, and scarce so long. 
Petzoles villous, lengthening with the age of the leaves ; towards 
the apex much swollen: this part contains many inflated 
vesicles, which render the whole plant very buoyant. 
Stipules two-pair; the superior simple, semilanceolate, and cadu- 
cous; the inferior pair at first simple and filiform, by age 
become very ramous like roots, and are permanent, as in the 
figure. 
Peduncles axillary, solitary, shorter than the petioles, one-flowered, 
incurved until the blossoms begin to decay, after that they 
bend down under the surface of the water, where the fruit 
grows and comes to maturity. 
Flowers pure white, expand above the surface of the water late in 
the afternoon. 
Calyx four-leaved, in opposite pairs ; leaflets lanceolate, villous, 
one of the pair permanent. 
Corol contorted ; petals four, at the base contracted into a tube by 
the firmness of the calyx; above greatly broader, and ex- — 
panding ; margins much curled. 
Nectary cup-shaped, on the top of the germ round the swelled base 
of the style, eight-grooved, with margin minutely lacerate, 
and curled. 
Filaments four, incurved. Anthers oval, incumbent. 
Germ beneath. Style length of the stamens. Stigma large, and 
nearly hemispheric. 
Nut turbinate, armed with two opposite, very-sharp, barbed 
spines, formerly, the two larger leaflets of the calyx one- 
celled. 
Seed solitary, large, conforming to the shape of the nut, which it 
completely fills. Lmbryo lodged in the top of the albumen, 
immediately under the remains of the style. 
This is evidently a species perfectly distinct from the two 
already described, viz. natans and bicornis. From the former it 
differs in having only two horns, and from the latter in these horns 
being straight, very sharp, and barbed. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Found floating on sweet standing water, over Bengal, and many 
other parts of India. Flowering time the rainy season. 
The nuts are sold in most bazars when in season, so much do 
the Hindoos admire their kernels. 
EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURES. 
. Part ofa plant. 
. A small portion of the stem, with part of the petiole. (a) of 
a leaf, and part of peduncle (b) with the upper pair of stipu- 
2 STE ae 
lus (cc) and lower pair, (dd) one of them beginning to be 
fibrous. 
. Asmall portion of the stem, to show the roots (a) issuing from 
the margins of the pit of a fallen leaf, between the now ramous _ 
9 
inferior pair of stipules (b b). 
The above are all of the natural size. 
4. Part of a flower magnified, to show the plaited nectary. 
5. The nut, natural size. 
6. Section of the same, with the embryo in the apex. 
