6 CXXXI. HYDROCHARIDE& (WRIGHT). 
4, BLYXA, Du Petit Thouars; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. iii. 451. 
Spathes cylindrical, male many-flowered, female 1-flowered. Male 
flower: Calyx 3-lobed. Corolla lobes 3, much longer than the sepals 
filiform. Stamens 6. Female flower: Calyx with a long tube. 
Corolla as in the male. Styles 3, filiform. Ovary linear, rostrate, 1- 
celled, with 3 parietal placentas.—A grass-like submerged herb with 
creeping stem, rooting at the nodes. 
A second species occurs in Tropical Asia, Australia and Mauritins. 
L B. radicans, Ridl. in Journ. Linn. Soc. xxii. 236, pl. 14. 
Stem creeping, slender, rooting at the nodes. Leaves grass-like, 
narrowly linear, obtuse, reaching 2 ft. in length, 4 in. wide, dilated at 
the base into a membranous sheath. Scape slender, 9 in. long, arising 
from amongst the terminal leaves. Male spathe, 2 in. long, narrowly 
subcylindrical, slightly dilated at the base. Calyx-tube scarcely longer 
than the spathe. Sepals slender, ligulate, obtuse, 4—5 lin. long, pale 
green. Petals 7—8 lin. long, narrow, white. Stamens 6, slender, linear- 
acuminate.  Pistillodia 3, short, dilated at the base. Female spathe 
similar to the male. Calyx-tube 24in. long, exserted from the spathe ; 
lobes 3-4 lin. long, ligulate, obtuse, green. Petals white, very narrow, 
linear, filiform, 7-8 lin. long. Styles 3, slightly shorter than the petals. 
Lower Guinea. Angola: Huilla, Welwitsch ! 
5. OTTELIA, Pers. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. iii. 453. 
Flowers hermaphrodite. Calyx of 3 oblong or linear lobes. 
Petals 3, much larger than the calyx-lobes, obovate, yellow or white. 
Stamens 6-10; filaments flattened ; anthers oblong. Ovary oblong, 
more or less rostrate, more or less completely 6-celled by the intrusion 
of the placentas ; styles 6, linear, 2-fid. Fruit inclosed in the 3—6- 
winged spathe.— Aquatic herbs with very short stems. Leaves crowded, 
some submerged, others with long petioles and floating, lanceolate 
ovate or cordate. Scape elongated. 
A genus of about 6 species inhabiting the tropics of both hemispheres. 
Leaves cordate at the base . : 
Leaves acute at the base. 
Spathe bifid. 
Scape terete 
1. O. alismoides. 
S S é : i : . 2. O. lancifolia. 
Scape-tetragonal at the apex ; ; À : . 3. O. vesiculata, 
Spathe with about 10 teeth 4. O. plantaginea. 
1. O. alismoides, Pers. Syn. i. 400. Rootstock perennial. Acau- 
lescent. Leaves with long triquetrous petioles, broadly cordate, obtuse, 
7—11-nerved, 4-6 in. wide. Flowers solitary on peduncles 6 in. to 1 ft. 
long, hermaphrodite. Spathe closely applied to the ovary, 3-6-toothed 
and winged. Calyx-lobes oblong, 6 lin. long, 14 lin. wide. Petals 3, 
broadly ovate, shortly unguiculate, white, 1 in. long. Stamens 6-10; 
