33 



GMELINA PARVIFOLIA. 



SERPICULA VERTICILLATA. 



34 



g 



round ; its 



FEMALE FLOWERS 



thorns are more numerous, and always present; the racemes are 

 terminal; its leaves have the quality of thickening cold water like 

 those of Pedalium murex and Menisnermum hirsutum. 



The flowers and fruit are alike in both plants. 



The plant is common in every forest and uncultivated place on Stigmas three, lanced. 



on a distinct plant, axillary, generally solitary, though some- 

 times there are two from the same verticill. 

 Germ sessile, awl'd, ending in the long sub-erect receptacle of the 



N 



bove the water, while expand 



the coast. Flowering time October and November. 



The natives employ the water impregnated with the gelatinous 

 quality of the leaves, as a remedy for the heat of urine in gonorrhoea. 



Water, stirred with the branches and leaves of the Pedalium 

 murex, becomes in like manner mucilaginous, and is used for the 

 same purpose, but soon, losing its consistency, returns to its 

 original state : whereas the leaves of Gmelina parviflora, being 

 gently bruised by the hand in stirring, the Water remains mucila- 

 ginous till decomposed by fermentation. 



Capsule 



awl'd, sometimes murex'd, 



one-cell'd. Seeds 3-5, 



d 



i 



end. 



When the male flowers are ready to expand, the murex'd spathe 

 bursts, the flowers are then quickly detached, and swim remote 

 from the parent plant on the surface of the water in search of the 

 female flowers, resting on the extremities of the reflected leaflets of 

 the perianth and petals of the corol. 



ows in clear standing sweet water ; flowers during the cold 



G 



season. 



fi 



163. 



STEMODIA VISCOSA. 



the surface of their sugars, as clay is used in the W 



Indi 



la 



Boda-sarum of the Telingas. 



ingly well. 



operation is fi 



Stem herbaceous, generally bent to one side, with many spreading 



branches from its base, four-sided, hairy, viscous, from six to 

 twenty-four inches high. 



Leaves opposite, stem-clasping, linear, below oblong, above hearted ; 



saw'd, hairy, viscous. 



Flowers axillary, solitary, peduncled, small, violet-colour. 



Bractes two, lanced, press on the calyx. 



Corol: tube compress'd, longitudinally wrinkled, twice the length of 



the calyx ; upper lip broad, emarginated ; under lip three- 

 parted. 



Stamens within the tube. 



165. 



VALLISNERIA OCTANDRA 



Root fibrous, annual. 



Leaves radical, linear, tapering to a fine point, smooth, from nine 



to twelve inches long, and half an inch, or less, broad. 



MALE FLOWERS. 



Peduncle, or rather Scape, axillary, straight, a little compressed, 



length of the leaves, or more, so as to raise the flowers above 

 the surface of the water. 



Spathe one-leaved, sub-cylindric, somewhat diaphanous, open at 



the top for the unexpanded flowers to pass through. 



This is a small annual herbaceous plant ; found on dry paddy Flowers numerous, in succession, white, pretty large, pedicel'd. 



fields, after the crop has been cut. 



The plant has a pleasant aromatic smell. 



Pedicels lengthen, when the flowers are ready to expand, so 

 as to elevate them just above the mouth of the spathe. 



Perianth three-leav'd: leaflets lanced. 



Corol three-petal'd : petals linear, recurved, more than twice the 



1 



164. 



SERPICULA VERTICILLATA 



ength of the calyx. 



Filaments eight, of unequal length, erect, shorter than the petals. 



Linn, suppl. p. 416 



Anthers linear. 



abortive, three-sided 



Styles three. 



Poo-Natsoo of the Telingas 



d 



Scape shorter and thicke 

 Spathe as in the 



female flowers, on a distinct plant. 



form jointed shoots, or Stems, some creeping, some floating 



ab 



i 



of 



below the surface of the water. 

 Branches solitary, axillary. 

 Leaves sessile, verticil' d (3-6-fold) oblong, lanced 



from an eighth of an inch to half an inch Ion 



lanced 



the spathe, by a very long receptacle, stile, or pedicel, which 

 makes up for the shortness of the scape, and brings the flower 

 nearly of a height with the tops of the leaves. 



Perianth three-parted. 



fil 



MALE FLOWERS 



axillary, sessile, from one to four in the verticill, rouch smaller 

 than the female. 



> 



Spathe one-flower'd, sub-globular, murex'd, bursting irregularly. 

 Perianth three-leaved : leaflets inverse-egg'd, reflected. 

 Corol three-petal'd. Petals wedge-form, reflected. 

 Filaments three, short, ascending. Anthers very large, two-lob'd, 



opening with an elastic jerk. Pollen white, very large grain'd. 



VOL. II. 



Germ cylindric, obsoletely three-sided, sessile in the bottom of the 



bove mentioned fl 



base : divisions fil 



white. 



Grows in stagnant, shallow, sweet, water. 



