Tas. 6755. 
SAGITTARIA MonTEVIDENSIS. 
Native of South America. 
Nat. Ord. AtismacEz.—Tribe ALISMEZ. 
Genus Sacittaria, Linn, ; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol. iii. p, 1006.) 
SaGITTaRIA montevidensis; elata, foliis sagittatis polymorphis, scapo fcmineo 
valido, verticillis approximatis, bracteis lanceolatis parvis, pedicellis masc. 
elongatis gracilibus, fem. brevibus crassis fructiferis recurvis, floribus amplis, 
sepalis oblongis, petalis magnis cuneato-orbiculatis niveis plaga basilari pur- 
purea aureo cincta notatis, filamentis brevibus papillosis, antheris oblongis, 
acheniis numerosissimis densissime congestis cuneatis compressis eglandulosis, 
stylo elongato-subulato. 
S. montevidensis, Cham. et Schlecht. in Linnea, vol. ii. p. 156 ; Kunth Enum. 
vol. iii. p. 157; Seubert in Mart. Fl. Bras. fase. viii. p.110; Micheli in 
A. DC. Monog. Phanerog. vol. iii. p. 75. 
S. chilensis, Cham. et Schlecht. 1. e. 
One of the most beautiful water-plants, other than water- 
lilies, that has been introduced into the tropical aquarium 
of Kew since its establishment, and a very free grower and 
flowerer. Nothing can exceed the snowy whiteness of the 
flowers, which are produced in succession, relieved as they 
are by the rich maroon blotches, bordered with pale gold, 
at the base of each petal. Like so many other water-plants, 
it has a wide range of geographical distribution, namely, 
from Jamaica to Monte Video on the River Plate, and 
from Lima in Peru to Valdivia in Chili. Tweedy, who 
found it near Buenos Ayres, describes it as most abundant 
in the marshes of La Plata, forming great bushes five feet 
high. Specimens in the Kew Herbarium, collected by 
M. Gibert in Uruguay, have the rachis of the female panicle 
much thicker than the thumb, and leaves a foot in diameter. 
The leaves are exceedingly variable in breadth, and in the 
shape and divergence of the always long basal lobes ; in 
the specimen figured the leaf is three times as long as 
broad, with the auricles narrow and parallel; in the 
extreme opposite form the leaf is twice as broad as long, 
May Ist, 1884, 
