574 POLYANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Annesléa. 
cutta, where it blossoms most part of the year, and is 
known to the natives of those countries by the name 
Makana. 
Root, consists of numerous, thick, fleshy fibres, which 
descend deep into the soil at the bottom of the water the 
plant grows in. Stemnone. Leaves radical, with petioles 
sufficiently long to'admit of their floating on the surface 
of the water, peltate, from orbicular to oval, entire, having 
the upper surface dark green, with ferruginous veins, and 
armed with a few very slender prickles, of a most beau- 
tiful purple, underneath and there reticulated with numer- 
ous, very large, prominent, dichotomous, finally amas- 
tamosing veins, armed with long, straight, very sharp, 
strong spines ; size of the leaf from one to four feet each | 
way. FPetioles round, and armed with straight spines. 
Peduncles radical, one. flowered, round, armed with 
straight spines; if the water is shallow they are gene- 
rally so long as to elevate the flower above its surface; but 
if deep, they blossom under water. Flowers small for the 
size of the plant, colour a lovely blue-violet. Calyx four- 
Jeaved, inserted on the crown of the germ, armed on the 
outside with recurved spines, smooth and coloured on the 
inside. Corol, petals about twenty, narrow, ovate-oblong 5 
the exterior ones nearly as large as the calyx, gradually 
lessening till they become very small, and nearly colour 
less next to the stamina. Filaments numerous, and like 
the .petals, lessening towards the centre. Anthers oval. 
Germ beneath, ovate, armed, from six to eight-celled, each 
containing from six to ten seeds attached to the partitions, 
and to the exterior angles of the cells as in nymphaed 
Style none. Stigma cup-shaped, with the margin only 
slightly marked with six, seven, or eight elevations. Berry 
inferior, neatly round, size of an orange, swelling out - 
_ Various places by the growth of the seeds within, crowne® 
_ with some portion of the calyx and the rays of the sessile 
peltate stigma which are from six to eight. Cells obscur® 
