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26 ^ 7 i^COaUS. No. 1, 



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1 ne leaves are alt .radical sl^efith 

 and variegated of white, rose'a^i- 



w I tlyi 



each side in the middle, the end is -veV'y sharp, 

 length from one to three feet. The stems ar/similar 

 to the leaves; but commonly longer and bearing 

 near the middle on one edge, the spadix or thict 

 spike of flowers. 



Spadix solitary, oblique, cylindrical from one to 

 three inches long, both ends tapering but obtuse. 

 Flowers small, cjowded spirally on it, and yellow 

 Perlgone with six equal and truncate segments 

 Stamina six, filaments thick, anthers bilobe— Ger 

 men one gibbose, oblong, stigma sessile, pointed 

 Capsuloblong with many minute, slender seeds. 



HISTORY— The Genus Acorus is so perfectly 

 natural that the few species belonging to it, are hardly 

 distinguished from each other. The Chinese Acorus 

 {^. gramineus) has narrow leaves and the spadix 

 nearly terminal. The .Asiatic and Malabar species 

 (.^ verus,) has a slender root and thin Iphvp^ 



A 



■Jhe 

 lilar r 



to the North \merican, and yet differs as much from 

 it as the Chinese. The above specific character ap- 

 plies to our American variety or species ; while the 

 European plant may be distinguished by the follott'- 

 ing definition. 



A. Calamus Var. Europeus—L^^xes and stems . 

 sword-shaped, nearly equal, hardly ancipital. Spadi* ' 

 cyhncWcal, obtuse, oblique, lateral, often double. ' 

 i.f CapsuLs trigone obtuse. 



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