64 NORTH AMERICAN FLORA (Volume 17 
Seeds hippocrepiform, with a crustaceous testa, transversely undulate-cristate ; embryo 
hippocrepiform. 
Type species, Alisma flava lL. 
Leaf-blades large, broadly elliptic to ovate, often cordate at the base; fruiting bat ar 12-15 mm. 
long, semicircular ; scapes over 3 dm. tall. . L. flava, 
Leaf-blades small, narrowly elliptic, 4 cm. long or less, less than 1 em. wide, oe 
at ae ends; fruiting carpels 8-10 mm. long, 3-4 mm. broad; scapes under 3 
dm. tall 2. L, Laforesti, 
1. Limnocharis flava (L,.) Buch. Abh. Nat. Ver. 
Bremen 2: 2. 1868. 
Alisma flava L,. Sp. Pl. 343. 1753. 
Damasonium flavum Mill, Gard. Dict. ed. 8. 1768. 
Limnocharis emarginata H. & B. Pl. Aequin. 1: 116. 1807. 
Limnocharis Plumiert Rich. Mem. Mus. Paris 1: 374. 1815. 
A perennial aquatic or marsh plant, with short thick rootstock, large flat broad leaf- 
blades, and showy yellow flowers. Leaves basal and exceeding the’ scape; sheath com- 
pressed, keeled on the back, gradually narrowed above into the long petiole which is sharply 
3-angled, the angles usually winged; blade elliptic to orbicular, sometimes cordate at the 
base, usually apiculate at the rounded or sometimes emarginate apex, up to 3 dm. long and 
1,5 dm. wide; scape erect, up to 4 dm. tall, angled, the angles often winged above; umbel 
when mature of 7-15 flowers, the mature pedicels stout, 3-5 cm. long, 3-angled, the angles 
winged and often undulate toward the thickened apex; sepals and petals broadly ovate to 
nearly orbicular, the former green, 12-18 mm. long, the petals thinner, longer than the 
sepals; fruiting carpels 12-15 mm. long, 6-8 mm. wide, semicircular ; seeds 1-1.2 mm. long. 
TYPE LOCALITY: South America. 
DISTRIBUTION : Cuba, Haiti, Grenada, and in continental tropical America. 
ILLUSTRATIONS: Plum. Pl, Am. Hi. 1b; H. & B. Pl. Aequin. 1: p/. 34; Mem. Mus. Paris 1: 
pl. 19, f. 2, pl. 20; Descourt. Fl. Ant. 8: pi. 600; Endl. Ic. Gen. Pl. pl. 26; Bot. Mag. pl. 2525. 
2. Limnocharis Laforesti Duchas.; Griseb. Bonplandia 6: 11. 1858. 
Limnocharis flava minor Micheli, in DC. Monog. Phan. 3: 90. 1881. 
Limnocharis mattogrossensis Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 37: 324, 1898. 
A small aquatic plant with smali oblong-elliptic leaf-blades, and a few-flowered umbel. 
Leaves basal, up to 2 dm. long; sheath gradually narrowed into the petiole; blade 24 cm. 
long, 5-8 mm. wide, narrowly elliptic, acute at both ends; scape 2.5-6 cm. long, slender ; 
umbel of 2 or 3 flowers, the pedicels 1.5-2 cm. long, slender, 3-angled ; sepals broadly oval 
to nearly orbicular, obtuse, 8-10 mm. long; fruiting carpels much compressed, 8-10 mm. 
long and 3-4 mm. wide, acute; seeds 0.6-0.8 mm. long. 
TYPE LOCALITY : In still water, Panama. : 
DISTRIBUTION: Panama, and Mattogrosso, Brazil. 
