208. CLI, ALISMACEE (WRIGHT). [ Alisma. 
The Great Rift Valley, 399. A. arcwatum, Michalet in Bull. Soc. bot. 
France, i. (1853) 312. A. Plantago, var. arcuatum, Durand & Schinz, 
Conspect. Fl. Afr. v. 486. 
Wile Band, Kordofan: El Rahad, Pfund, 525 (ex Zarb), Eritrea: Adi 
Ugri, near Godofelassi, 6400 ft., Schweinfurth, 140. Abyssinia: Shireh province, 
Quartin-Dillon, & Schimper (ex'A. Richard), by the side of water, from 5200- 
8500 ft., Schimper, 204 and 1538 (ex Engler). British East Africa : Leikipia 
Plateau, in the Guaso Nairotia, Gregory ! 
Very widely distributed, but absent’ from South America, 
2. A. parnassifolium, Bassi in Linn. Syst. ed. 3, 230. Rhizome 
short, oblique; root-fibres long, thick; stolons long, slender. Leaves 
broadly ovate, cordate, coriaceous, acute or obtuse, 3-44 in. by $-64 in., 
7-15-nerved, marked with pellucid lines; petiole up to 20 in. long. 
Scape erect, 20-39 in. high, panicled above; flowers 3 in each verticil ; 
pedicels 9-12 lin. long, erect; gemms sometimes present; bracts 
lanceolate, acuminate, acute, many-nerved, 3 lin. long. Sepals broadly 
ovate, obtuse or emarginate, many-nerved, 2 lin. by 1} lin., patent 
during flowering, afterwards erect and sheathing the fruit. Petals 
broadly ovate, longer than the sepals, irregularly dentate. Stamens 
6-9 ; filaments complanate; anthers extrorse, nearly basifixed, about 
half as long as the filaments. Carpels 9-12, obovoid, scarcely laterally 
compressed, dorsally 3—5-ribbed, the ribs becoming less prominent in 
fruit; epicarp thin; endocarp almost woody; style aristate. Seed- 
testa thin, striate—Kunth, Enum. iii. 150; Reichb. Ic. Fl. Germ. vil. 
29,t. 56; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii.186 ; Buchen. in Abhandl., naturw. Ver- 
Bremen, ii. (1871), 482; Micheli in DC. Monogr. Phan. iii, 35, 952; 
pee f. Fl. Brit, Ind. vi. 560; Durand & Schinz, Conspect. Fl. Afr. v. 
Wile Land. British East Africa: Jur; Jur Ghattas, Scheweinfurth, ser. iil., 
222! Bahr-el-Ghazal, Schweinfurth, 1166 (ex Micheli). 
Also in Europe, India, Queensland and Madagascar. 
The style is much shorter in fruit in the tropical African specimen seen, than in 
those from other localities. 
3. A. oligococcum, F. Wuell. Fragm. i. 23. Rhizome short, 
bearing many stout rootlets. Leaves radical, membranous, broadly 
ovate-cordate, 23-4? in. long, 2-3 in. wide, obtuse, basal lobes approxi- 
mate; primary nerves 11-13, prominent beneath, secondary parallel, 
remainder anastomosing ; pellucid dots scattered ; petiole 8-30 in. long, 
transversely septate within ; submerged leaves thinly membranous, 
narrower than the aerial, scarcely cordate. Scape erect, paniculate 
above, much longer than the leaves, terete, transversely septate within ; 
bracts free, lanceolate, acute, leafy, the lower 1 in. long. Flowers 3 in 
each verticil ; pedicels longer than the bracts, slender, after flowering 
divaricate-patent. Sepals 14 lin. long, ovate-oblong, obtuse, after 
flowering patent. Petals 3 lin. long, ovate-lanceolate, unguiculate, 
shortly acuminate, white. Stamens 6, 1 lin. long; filaments com- 
planate ; anthers ovate, emarginate at either end. Carpels 6, broadly 
