64 



COMMELINACEAE. 



1. Zebrina pendula Schnitzl. WANDEBING 

 JEW. (Fig. 91.) Stems 1 long or more, 

 branched. Leaves l'-2' long, acute or acumi- 

 nate, purple beneath, longitudinally green- or 

 white-banded above, their sheaths ciliate at the 

 throat; flowers glomerate between 2 upper 

 leaves; calyx-tube white; corolla-tube white; 

 limbs of the petals ovate, rose-purple. [Trades- 

 cantia discolor of H. B. Small.] 



Locally escaped from gardens, where it is com- 

 monly planted for ornament and is very luxuriant. 

 Flowers nearly throughout the year. Native of 

 the West Indies and Central America. 



Rhoeo discolor (L'Her.) Hance, OYSTER 

 PLANT, West Indian, a nearly stemless succu- 

 lent plant, with large imbricated lanceolate 

 purplish leaves, the short-peduncled clustered 

 flowers subtended by large ovate concave bracts, 

 is occasional in gardens. [Tradescantia dis- 

 color L'Her.; Cyanotis discolor of Jones.] 



Tradescantia virginica L., BLUE SPIDERWORT, North American, with linear 

 leaves and showy blue umbellate flowers is another garden plant of this family. 



Family 2. PONTEDERIACEAE Dnmort. 

 PICKEREL- WEED FAMILY. 



Perennial aquatic or bog plants, the leaves petioled, with thick blades, 

 or long and grass-like. Flowers perfect, more or less irregular, solitary 

 or spiked, subtended by leaf-like spathes. Perianth free from the ovary, 

 corolla-like, 6-parted. Stamens 3 or 6, inserted on the tube or the base of 

 the perianth; filaments filiform, dilated at the base or thickened at the 

 middle; anthers 2-celled, linear-oblong or rarely ovate. Ovary 3-celled 

 with axile placentae, or 1-celled with 3 parietal placentae; style filiform or 

 columnar; stigma terminal, entire or minutely toothed; ovules anatropous, 

 numerous, sometimes only 1 of them perfecting. Fruit a many-seeded 

 capsule, or a 1-celled, 1-seeded utricle. Endosperm of the seed copious, 

 mealy; embryo central, cylindric. About 5 genera and 25 species, in tem- 

 perate and tropical regions. 



1. PIAROPUS Eaf. 



Herbs, with floating rootstocks copiously root-bearing at the nodes, the 

 leaves clustered at the nodes, the petioles slender or inflated, the blades commonly 

 dilated. Flowers sessile, solitary, or in terminal spikes or racemes. Perianth 

 showy, its 6 parts in 2 series, united into a tube below, the limb oblique. Stamens 

 6, irregularly adnate to the perianth, 3 included, 3 exserted ; filaments sometimes 

 flattened at the base. Ovary 3-celled ; stigma terminal ; ovules numerous. 

 Capsule included in the withering-persistent perianth, loculicidal. Seeds many- 

 ribbed. [Greek, referring to the swollen petiole of the following species.] 

 About 5 species, natives of tropical America. Type species: Pontederia 

 asurea Sw. 



