Hydrostachys.] CX. PODOSTEMACEE (BAKER AND WRIGHT), 129 
8. HYDROSTACHYS, Thouars; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. iii. 115 
Flowers dicecious. Perianth none. Male: Stamen solitary; fila- 
ment veryshort; anther oblong, 2-celled. Female: Ovary oblong, 1-celled; 
placentas 2, parietal. Styles 2, long, filiform, connate in the lower half. 
Capsule oblong, seated in the hollow of a concave accrescent bract, the 
apex of which is often reflexed, 2-valved. Seeds many to each placenta.— 
Stem short, tuberous. Leaves large, pinnately branched, usually bear- 
ing protuberances on the petiole and rhachis. Spikes simple, tufted, 
peduncled, much resembling the fruiting spikes of Plantago major, Linn., 
each flower seated in the axil of a persistent bract. 
Species about 15, chiefly in the Mascarene Islands, one in South Africa. 
Ultimate branches of the rhachis at least 3 lin. long, 
filiform. Leaf-segments setaceous . * ‘ . IL. . triaxialts. 
Ultimate branches of the rhachis rarely 3 lin. long. 
Protuberances on rhachis narrowly linear 
Protuberances on rhachis lanceolate or palmately or 
pinnately lacerate . . : 
2. H, angustisecta. 
3. H. polymorpha, 
1. Hi. triaxialis, Lngl. d& Gilg in Baum, Kunene-Samb. Exped. 
241. A submerged herb. Leavesabout 14 in. long, 3 in. wide ; rhachis 
tripinnate, the primary divisions alternate, the secondary subopposite, 
all bearing subulate or elliptic protuberances, ultimate divisions bearing 
5-8 pairs of setaceous segments 3-1 lin. long formed of 2-3 chains of 
cells ; petiole 1-22 in. long. Female spikes in fascicles of 6-10; peduncle 
2-5 in. long, verrucose with black protuberances ; flowering part 2-3 in. 
long ; bracts obovate, concave, transversely rugose in the upper part, 
1 lin. wide. Fruit obovoid, sessile, shorter than the bract, smooth. 
Flowers and male plant unknown. 
Lower Guinea. Angola: in the Kubango River, above Massaca, 3900 ft. 
on boulders in running water, Baum, 263! 
Native name “ waterkorn.” 
2. H.angustisecta, Lngl. Jahrb. xxviii. 391. Rhizome tuberous. 
Leaves multipinnate, about 1 ft. long, 2-24 in. wide; rhachis with short 
conical protuberances below, longer and narrowly linear ones above, 
ultimate divisions bearing lanceolate segments 4 Jin. long; petiole 4 in. 
long, 2-3 lin. in diam. Female spike 7 in. long; peduncle 8 in. long; 
bracts 2 lin. long, 1 lin. wide, oblong, concave. Capsule oblong-ovoid, 
slightly shorter than the bract. 
Mozamb. Dist. German East Africa: Uhehe; on stones beneath a waterfall 
on the Lofio River, 1900 ft., Goetze, 433 ! 
Either this is a polymorphic species or Goetze’s specimen at Kew consists of 
two species. The smaller has leaves 4 by 1} in., with their ultimate segments very 
narrowly linear and compressed ; the petioles, however, so strongly resemble those 
of the larger plant as to favour the opinion that the species is variable, The 
bracts when old lose their parenchyma, and then appear palmately divided. 
VOL. VI.—SECT. I ‘s 
