Lemna. CXXXV. LEMNACEiE. 521 



3. ORONTIUM. 



The ancient Gr. name of a plant, so called from its growing by the Orontes, a river in Asia Minor. 



Spadix cylindric, covered with flowers ; perianth 4 — 6-sepaled ; 

 stamens 4 — 6 ; ovary free ; stigma sessile : fruit a dry berry or utri- 

 cle. — % acaulescent, aquatic. Fls. yellow^ at the summit of the scape. 

 Spathe radical. 



O. AauATicuM. Golden Club. 



Lis. ovate-lanceolate ; spike or spadix cylindric, on a clavate scape. — This 

 intere.sting plant is a native of inundated banks and pools, U. S., but not very 

 common. The leaves are large (often becoming 10 — 12' long and ^ — | as 

 wide), smooth, of a deep green, velvet-like surface above, paler beneath, on 

 long, radical petioles. Scape thick and terete, about a foot in length, closely 

 invested by the short spathe at base, and ending in a spadix of a rich yellow 

 color, covered with small, perfect, yellow flowers of an offensive odor, — the up- 

 per ones often tetramerous. May. 



4. ACORUS. 



Gr. a, privative, and Koprj, the pupil of the eye ; supposed to cure maladies of the eye. 



Spadix cylindric, covered with flowers ; perianth 6-sepaled ; ovary 



free ; stigma sessile, minute ; fruit dry, 3-celled, many-seeded. 



% herbs, with a fleshy rhizoma. Lvs. radical., ensiform. Scape foliaceous. 



A. CALAMUS. Sweet Flag. 



Summit of the scape above the spadix very long and leaf-like. — Grows in 

 wet soils throughout the U. States. The thick, prostrate, creeping rhizoma is 

 highly valued for its aromatic flavor, its warm and pungent taste. The long, 

 sword-shaped leaves are readily distinguished by the ridge running their 

 whole length. The cylindrical spadix is about 3' long and 'i" diam., covered 

 with small, green flowers, and bursting from the side of the leaf-like scape in 

 June and July. 



5. SYMPLOCARPUS. Salisb. 



Gr. (TviMirXoKri, connection, Kapnos, fruit. 



Spathe ventricose ; spadix oval, covered with perfect flowers ; 

 perianth deeply 4-parted, segments cucullate, cuneate, truncate, per- 

 sistent, becoming thick and spongy ; berries globose, 2-seeded, im- 

 bedded in the spadix. — % Aquatic, acaulescent herbs. 



S. FCETiDL-s. Nutt. (Pothos foBtida. Mickx. Ictodes. Biv.) Skunk Cabbage. 



Lis. cordate-oval, acute ; 57?art'2.T subglobose, preceding the leaves. — A com- 

 mon plant, Can., N. Eng., Mid. and W. States, growing in swamps, meadows 

 and ditches, renowned for its odor, which is scarcely less offensive than that of 

 the animal whose name it bears. Early in spring, the swelling .spathe is seen 

 emerging first from the ground or water, more or less covered with purplish 

 spots, its edges partly infolded, and its point incurved. It encloses the spadix 

 which is oval, covered with flowers of a dull purple. The leaves, which arise 

 after the flowers, are of a bright green, numerous, becoming very large (often 



Order CXXXV. LEMNACE^.— Duckmeats. 



Plants mopllv fi(mliiig, cellular, nnnunl, confi.sting of n frond (stem and Irnf in one) 

 F/.t. burstiii;,' from the nmrtrui of the Iroiids, 2 or 3. uchlamydeous, enclosed in a spathe 

 Sterile fl.i.—Sra. dehnitr. often monadelphouD. 



Fertile fts.— Ova. 1-cclled, wiih 1 or more erect ovules, Sty. short. Stig. simple 

 Fr.— Utricle 1— several seeded. Sda. with a fungous testa. 



Genera « species 26 widely (lifruscd. Th.-y are almost entirely destitute of spiral vessels. Some of 

 them may he regarded us the simplest of Fhaiiogiunou.s pluiiis. 



LEMNA. • 



Gr. \ciiiia, a s'-iile or husk ; from tlie resemblance of the frond. 



Sterile and fertile flowers in the same spathe, the former of 2 col- 



