188 PENTANDRIA. DIGYNIA. 



pressed. Seed gibbously convex, marked with 

 3 strise; commissure narrow, immarginate, flat. 

 Inroliicrum none. 



Umbell imperfect; umbellulac about 4, 3 to 5-flowered; 

 involucell unequal, 3 to 5 or 6-parted; leat" solitary, radi- 

 cal, biternate, segments multifid; scapes fnmishing a con-" 

 similar involucrate leaf; flowers stellate; root a globular 

 tuber. 



E. bidbosa. 



Sison bulbosnirii Mich. 1. p. 169. Hydro cotyle composita. 

 rursh, Flor. Am. 1. p. 190. H. ambigua, of the same, 2. 

 p. 732. //. bipinnata. Muhlenberg's Catalogue. 



Obs. Caudex ascendant, about an inch high. Leaf soli- 

 tary, emitting 2 and sometimes 3 scapes from its sheath; 

 lamina biternately divided, partitions subternate; seg- 

 ments subrhomboidal, cleft, ultimate lobes trifid, obtuse, 

 with minute points. Scapes round, 4 to 5 inches high, 

 terminating in an irregular umbell of 3 or 4 rays, subtend- 

 ed at the base by a sessile terhate leaf subdivided simi- 

 larly to that of the root. Leaves of the involucell entiie, 

 simple, linear-oblong. Flowers white, stellately expand- 

 ing. Petals obovate-oblong, or attenuated downwards so 

 as to appear unguiculate. Calix obsolete, marginal. Sta- 

 mina, filaments erect, exserted longer than the petals, 

 anthers oval, deep brown. Styles subulate, persistent, 

 twice the length of tlie germ; stigmas obsolete. Germ 

 turbinate, laterally compressed, truncated above. Seed 

 gibbously convex, marked with 3 curved lines, (my spe- 

 ciniens were not sufficiently advanced to determine the 

 ultimate character of the seed) 2 lateral and 1 dorsal, the 

 margin of the commissure being inconspicuous and form- 

 ing nearly a right line. 



Hab. In shady alluvial soils, subject to inundation. 

 Near Lancaster, Pennsylvania; near Pittsburgh; on the 

 Ohio, Missouri, Tennessee, 8cc. 



Of this genus there are probably 2 species, but the 

 second has not been indicated; Mr. Pursh's Hydrocotyie 

 ambigua I have now before me, which is unquestionably 

 the plant described by Michaux under Sison^ and which 

 he himself has also given as H. composita. A second spe- 

 cies? of which I have merely an accurate drawing made 

 by C W. Sliort, M.D. from a living specimen found on 

 the banks of Kentucky river the l5th of March, has to all 

 appearance leaves which are simply ternate, with the di- 

 visions 3-parted, the lobes subrhomboidal with dentures 

 which are a little cleft. And although the specimen ap- 



