a single 2- to 4-celled anther on a slender filament; pistillate flowers sessile at 

 first, often pedicellate after anthesis; carpels 2 to 8, flask-shaped, ribbed or toothed 

 on the margins, or sometimes smooth; style recurved, persistent; mature fruit 

 2-4 mm. long, rarely pitted, flattened, slightly incurved, smooth or slightly 

 dentate on the convex back, the body 2-3 mm. long, the beak to 1.5 mm long. 



In fresh or brackish water in pools, marshes, streams and irrigation canals, 

 in Tex. mainly in the Edwards Plateau and in the Trans-Pecos but widespread in 

 Okla., N.M. and Ariz., Apr.-Sept.; nearly throughout N. A., except the extreme 

 n., also S. A., Euras. and Afr. 



The fruits as well as the foliage are eaten by wildfowl, the fruits by some 

 marshbirds and shorebirds, and the plants are considered to be a fair food 

 producer for trout. 



2. Halodule Endl. 



Several species of marine waters mainly in tropical regions. 

 1. Halodule Beaudettei (den Hartog) den Hartog. Fig. 47. 



Submerged dioecious perennial, with creeping rootstocks; rootstocks branching, 

 articulated and rooting at the nodes, the roots often terminating in fleshy starchy 

 tuberlike swellings, with a short erect stem at each node; internodes 5—40 mm. 

 long; scales elliptic, 5-10 mm. long; sheaths 1.5-6 cm. long; leaves mostly 

 crowded on short erect lateral branches, all linear, grasslike, more or less 

 narrowed and sheathing at the base, 5-20 cm. long, 0.8-1.2 mm. wide, midrib 

 conspicuous, widening and often furcate near the tip; leaf tip with a very promi- 

 nent acute median tooth which is 1 to 10 times as long as the narrow linear lateral 

 teeth; flowers without perianth, subtended by a hyaline perianthlike bract; 

 staminate flowers consisting of two anthers on the end of a stout stalk; anthers 

 oblong, about 4 mm. long, unequally attached, 2-celled; pistillate flowers of 2 

 unequal carpels on a stout stalk, the largest carpel about 3.5 mm. long (including 

 the single elongate-attenuate style). Diplanthera Beaudettei den Hartog, D. 

 Wrightii of auth., Halodule Wrightii of auth. 



In salt water of bays along the Gulf Coast in Tex., frequent in sea drift; 

 widely distributed in the Carib. and also in the Gulf of Mex., along the Atl. 

 Coast of N.A. n. to N.C.; also along the Pac. Coast of Pan. and Nic. 



3. Cymodocea Konig 



Several species of marine waters mainly in tropical regions. Sometimes placed 

 in a separate family, Cymodoceaceae. 



1. Cymodocea fiiiformis (Kiitz.) Correll. Manatee-grass. Fig. 48. 



Submerged acaulescent dioecious perennial, with creeping rootstocks branching 

 and rooting at the nodes; leaves all submerged, grasslike, terete or semiterete, 

 acute at the apex and sheathing at the base, the sheaths more or less auriculate, 

 to 35 cm. long and 2 mm. wide; stipular sheaths completely surrounding the leaf 

 bases, scarious, to 45 mm. long; flowers unisexual, solitary or in simple or 

 dichotomous cymes; staminate flowers consisting of two anthers on the end of 

 a long pedicel, the anthers equally attached, both the same height, 2-celled; 

 pistillate flower of 2 carpels, without perianth but subtended by a hyaline peri- 

 anthlike bract; style 2- to 4-lobed; stigmas 2, hairlike; mature fruit 1 -seeded, 

 3 mm. long, beaked by the persistent style. Cymodocea manatorum Asch., 

 Syringodium filiforme Kiitz. 



In shallow salt water of bays along the Gulf Coast of Tex., frequent in sea 

 drift; from Fla. and Tex. to Berm., Cuba and Martinique, 



120 



