SUPPLEMENT. 



THE FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 

 By Chari.es Louis Pollard. 

 CHAPTER XX.Y..— Continued. 



FAMILY HYDROPHTLLACEAE. Waterleaf Family. Contains 

 about 17 genera and 160 species, very widely distributed. The 

 plants are herbs, with variously shaped and usually alternate 

 leaves. The flowers, which are nearly always blue in color, are arranged 

 in one-sided spikes or racemes called scorpioid from the fact that they 

 are curved like a scorpion's tail, gradually straightening as the flowers 

 bloom. The calyx and corolla are 5-parted or 5-cleft, the stamens of 

 like number and inserted on the throat of the corolla, alternating with 

 its lobes. Ovary superior, 2-celled with 2 styles ; fruit capsular, 2-valved. 

 The name Waterleaf, which is a literal translation of the name of 

 the typical genus {Hydrophyllum) is supposed to refer to the water cavity 

 in each leaf. (Fig. 196.) The Hydrophyllums are common plants in 



FiG. 196. The Waterleaf {Hydrophyllum appendiculatuin) . 

 and Brown, III. Fl. Northeast U. S. 



After Brittoa 



