44 



W 



and length, sometimes slender and sharp-pointed, sometimes short 

 and very blunt. Stipules usually quite large but variable (in van 

 Macounii, Allen). Lea\:£s 6 to ii fusuallv 8^ in averhV.il mnqi'^tino- 



of 3 to 7 (usually '6) corticated internodes and a naked tip, sometimes- 

 two-celled. Bracts on all the nodes ; on the upper sterile nodes 

 shorter, often inconspicuous ; on the fertile nodes of the female 

 plants there are usually 3 shorter, posterior, and (including the main 

 bract, in place of the antheridium) 5 longer antejior bracts ; of these 

 the mam bract is sometimes shorter, sometimes longer, than the 

 others. On the male plant the bracts are in general shorter than on 

 the female, usually only two long anterior bracts, by the side of the 

 antheridmm. Sporangium oblong, with a short, broad, truncated 

 coronula._ Nucleus black, with inconspicuous angles, 440-500 >u 

 long; striae on one side of the sporangium 14-16, on the nucleus 

 13-14. On the subterranean parts of the plant, small globular bulb- 



lets." 



stems, 



" Very variable in size and vigor, but usually with very slender 

 ns, and slender leaves, mostly straight and rigidly spreading, 



rarely curved outwardly or inwardly. Color a clear green, light or 

 dark, usually grayish with incrustation when old ; in salt water more 

 vigorous, yellowish or browish green and but slightly incrusted The 

 length of the leaves varies greatly, but very long leaves are unknown, 

 while there are short-leayed forms (forma brachxphylld). The bracts 

 are sometimes much longer than the sporangia; sometimes of equal 

 length or even somewhat shorter ; also the spines, always slender and 

 straight, are often several times longer than the diameter of the stem, 

 equal to it or shorter, rarely so short as to be almost unnoticed (forma 

 sub-t7iermii) In young plants the terminal naked segments of the 



fallax^ Ag.) On all forms, but 



most frequently on those growing in fresh or brackish water, are 

 found chalky-white, globular tubers, which are situated on the nodes 

 of the rootlets, seldom on the subterranean, defoliated and decorticated 

 nodes of the stem; these are sometimes single, sometimes in groups 

 of 2 to 5 and are nothing else than modified rootlets, formed of a 

 smgecell,filled_with starch granules. Sometimes an ordinary filiform 

 root et bears at its tip one, or even a whole bunch of such tubers. 



. • \ ^ r — ^ v^^-- -w ».xixL^^i, tiic:5c luuiicLs survive 



and give rise to new shoots, from the upper extremity of the tuber 

 or from a root-node on which the tuber is borne. Male and female 

 plants are equally common and are found together." (A Braun ) 



1 he above comprehensive description, by Prof. Braun embraces 

 a great variety of forms from different countHes. The forms of'rue 



f^:,"Nr.6 """t^ '^^""^"/fTir" ^^^ ^^°'" N^- Mexico (Wriglit! 

 18^7, No. 561); Longlsland (Allen, 1860-1881) and Canada (Prof 



Macoun Canadian Pacific R. R. Survey, 1879-1880; brackish ponds 



W h ^f ^^^^^^V"' "'^-^ ^^1 °f th^se collections belong to the 

 long-bracted and long-spined form, except the follovvin" marked 

 variety, ^vhlch I had ventured to consider a distinct species". 



Var. Macounii. {Ch. Macounii, Allen in /.VO-CaShs aculeoHs 

 sparsis, inconspicuis, sub-inflatis obtusis armatus. Fol a ve icU 

 6-8, plerumque 8 ; articuUs 8, internodiis elongatis ; sin tro to a 



