Alisma. | CLII, ALISMACEE (WRIGHT). 207 
*"*Inner perianth-segment much smaller than the outer, 
or absent. 
Flowers diccious, paniculate; stamens 9; carpels 
many . : - ° . . 6. BURNATIA, 
Flowers moneecious, subspicate ; stamens 8; carpels 
3-6. : : > ° - . 7. WISNERIA, 
TRIBE II. Butomeve.—Ovules numerous, on reticulately branched parietal 
placentas. Carpels dehiscing along the ventral suture. 
Only Tropical African genus. - ; . 8. Buromopsis. 
1, ALISMA, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 1004. 
Flowers hermaphrodite. Sepals 3, herbaceous, persistent, patent, 
reflexed or erect after flowering. Petals 3, larger than the sepals, 
deciduous. Stamens 6, rarely 9, slightly perigynous ; filaments subulate ; 
anthers dorsifixed near the base. Carpels few or many, distinct, inserted 
on a small receptacle; style ventral or subapical, often very short, 
deciduous or persistent; stigma terminal, small; ovule solitary, basal, 
raphe ventral. Achenes few or many, laterally compressed or turgid, 
usually dorsally 3-ribbed ; pericarp coriaceous or hardened, indehiscent. 
Seed basal, erect, compressed ; testa membranous ; embryo curved.— 
Perennial, acaulescent, scapigerous, marsh herbs. Leaves erect, long 
petioled, elliptic, lanceolate or sagittate, sometimes pellucid dotted. 
Scape short or long. Flowers umbellate or on a panicle with verticillate 
branches and branchlets, with 3 bracts at the nodes, long pedicellate, 
white or light rose. 
Species about 10, in Europe and Temperate and Tropical Asia, Australia, and 
America. 
Carpels verticillate, laterally compressed. = 1. A. -Plantago. 
Carpels irregularly verticillate, scarcely compressed. 
Sepals erect after flowering, sheathing the fruit . 2. 4. parnassifolium, 
Sepals patent after flowering . ’ : - . 38. A. oligococcum, 
1. A. Plantago, Linn. Sp. Pl. ed. i. 342. Rhizome tuberous, 
densely covered with root-fibres. Leaves lanceolate, ovate or cordate, 
1}-8 in. by 4-44 in., 3-7-nerved. Scapes solitary or many, erect or 
more or less arcuate, 1-2 ft. high, obscurely trigonous ; branches ver- 
ticillate; flowers about 8 in each verticil; pedicels slender, patent ; 
bracts lanceolate, acute, membranous, 5-6 lin. long. Sepals broadly 
ovate, scarious at the margins, 8-10-nerved, 14 lin. by 1 lin. Petals 
larger than the sepils, broadly obovate, white. Anthers oblong, as 
long as, or shorter than, the complanate filaments. Carpels 15-20; 
Style filiform, aristate. Achenes more or less trigonous, much com- 
pressed, membranous at the sides, dorsally 2-ribbed, ;'5—} in. long ; 
remains of style ventral, aristate. Seed-testa thin, slightly rugose.— 
A. Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss. ii. 346; Micheli in DC. Monogr. Phan. iii. 
32; Zarb in Cat. Spéc. Bot. Pfund, 36; Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. vi. 559 ; 
Engl. Hochgebirgsfl. Trop. Afr. 110; Schweinf. in Bull. Herb. Boiss. ii. 
Append. ii. 93; Durand & Schinz, Conspect. Fl. Afr. v. 486; Gregory, 
