2. Spergularia marina (L.) Griseb. Salt-marsh sand-spurrey. Fig. 439. 



Annual erect or more often diffuse fleshy plants with branches to 35 cm. long, 

 usually more or less glandular-pubescent; leaves rarely fascicled, linear, bluntly 

 mucronate, to 4 cm. long and 1.5 mm. wide; stipules triangular, about as long as 

 broad or slightly longer, 2-4 mm. long; cymes usually lax, the lower and sometimes 

 the upper bracts foliaceous and elongate or the upper much-abbreviated; sepals 

 ovate to ovate-lanceolate, blunt, 2.5-5 mm. long, much-exceeding the white or 

 pink petals; stamens 2 to 5; capsule ovoid, equaling or exceeding the calyx, 3.5- 

 6.5 mm. long; the lower fruiting pedicels to 1 cm. long; seeds pale-brown or 

 reddish, opaque, not sculptured, smooth or minutely papillose, 0.5-0.9 mm. long, 

 wingless or with a thin friable wing. S. salina J. & C. Presl. 



In saline or brackish soils in depressions in dunes and on flats from e. Tex. 

 along the coast to s. Tex. and apparently isolated along the Rio Grande near El 

 Paso and Ariz. (Coconino, Yavapai, Gila, Maricopa, Pinal, Pima and Yuma cos.), 

 Mar.-June; from Fla., n. to Que., B.C. and 111., w. to Tex., Calif, and Wash.; 

 also Euras. 



3. Spergularia echinosperma Celak. Fig. 439. 



Annual diffuse plants with stems to 2 dm. long, usually more or less glandular- 

 pubescent throughout; leaves linear, to 35 mm. long and 1.4 mm. wide, usually not 

 fascicled or with only one leaf in the axil; stipules deltoid, 1 .4-2.4 mm. long; cymes 

 laxly flowered; sepals ovate, 2.4-3.6 mm. long; petals pink or rosy at the apex, 

 1.6-2.8 mm. long; stamens as many as 4; styles 3, separated to the base; mature 

 capsule 3.4-5 mm. long, exceeding the calyx by 0.4-1.8 mm.; fruiting pedicels 

 filiform, reflexed or not, 5-11 mm. long; seeds 0.5-0.8 mm. long, deep reddish- 

 brown or nearly black with a silvery tinge, rounded in outline, surface always 

 roughened, echinate, with or without a broad scarious wing. S. salsuginea var. 

 bracteata Robins. 



In salt marshes and flats and in dune pockets in e. Tex., along the coast to 

 Corpus Christi (Nueces Co.), apparently isolated near Ft. Stockton (Pecos Co.), 

 Feb.-June; introd. into s. U. S. from the Old World. 



Fam. 59. Nymphaeaceae Salisb. Water-lily Family 



Aquatic perennial herbs with horizontal rhizomes and peltate or cordate leaves 

 floating or emersed, the submerged leaves (when present) usually capillary- 

 dissected; vernation involute; flowers axillary, solitary, perfect; sepals usually 3 to 

 6, green to petaloid, free or slightly united, hypogynous; petals 3 to many, showy 

 and inserted on the surface of the ovary, sometimes transitional to stamens; sta- 

 mens 3 to many, extrorse or introrse; pistils 1 to several; fruit a many-seeded berry 

 or nut, or 1- to 3-seeded, small and indehiscent. 



About 75 species in several genera of wide geographic distribution. Including 

 Cabombaceae and Nelumbonaceae. 



Most of the species are of some value to wildlife. For instance, various wild- 

 fowl, such as ducks, marsh, shore and song birds, at various times eat the seeds 

 of all our species. The rootstocks, roots and petioles of Nelumbo, Nymphaea and 

 Nuphar are eaten by beaver, muskrats and porcupines, and the leaves, stems and 

 flowers are frequently browsed by deer. The usually large leaves that harbor insects 

 and algae also provide shade and shelter, but very little food, for fish. 



1. Carpels united either along their sides or along the outer margins by adnation 

 to a cuplike "receptacle;" stigmas radiate; ovules numerous in each 

 cell; stamens numerous, introrse; fruit an irregularly dehiscent 

 berry, ripening in the water; leaves with a basal sinus (2) 



900 



