CfcASS MONffiCIA. 189 



of them bifid (or cleft) ; and the capsule 3-lobed, 

 and 3-seeded ; the seeds at length bursting out with 

 an elastic spring, by means of a peculiar integument 

 or arillus with which they are at first surrounded. 

 One of the most elegant species peculiar to the 

 United States, is the E. corollata, a perennial, with 

 subdivided umbels of conspicuous white flowers, and 

 narrowish, oblong, obtuse leaves. This plant is not 

 uncommon in the sandy fields of the middle states, 

 and is in flower about June and July. The E. ipe- 

 cacuanha, so abundant in the sandy fields of New 

 Jersey, has been employed in medicine as a substitute 

 for the drug indicated by its specific appellation. Its 

 roots are extremely long, and rather thick ; from which 

 arise clusters of very low stems, clothed with reddish 

 green, smooth, opposite, obovate, or narrow lanceolate, 

 and very different looking leaves. The peduncles are 

 few, axillary and terminal, 1 -flowered, and rather 

 long. It is in flower about May and June. The 

 most elegant species in the United States is the 

 E. variegata of Missouri and Arkansa territory, an 

 annual now cultivated in the gardens, flowering late 

 in autumn, and remarkable for its abundant variegated 

 floral leaves. 



In the order Triandria is the genus Typha, or 

 Reed-Mace, referred to the natural family of the 

 Aroide;e. The common species, T. latifolia, is a 

 tall, reed-like plant, growing on the edges of ponds, 

 with long, almost semicylindric leaves and stems, 

 terminating in long, brown, and dense cylindric spikes 

 of inconspicuous flowers ; the uppermost, distinctly 

 separated from the rest, are sterile, and without any 

 kind of perianth. The 3 stamens in each of these 

 minute floscules, arise from a chaffy or hairy recepta- 

 cle, united below into a single filament or stipe. The 

 fertile flowers, below the sterile, are also without 



