353 



still regard them as calyx and corolla. The segments of the two 

 series are alternate with each other, sometimes one or both pedi- 

 cellate or tubular below, sometimes free and separate, often par- 

 tially or wholly connate. 



The floral appendages of these plants constitute a morphologi- 

 cal feature of great interest. In Eriocaulon the appendage of the 

 staminate flower appears like a style included in and coalescent 

 with the tube of the inner segments, projecting between the 

 bases of the stamens in three small black points which look much 

 like the segmental glands. I do not find this in the pistillate 

 flower. In Diipatya and Lachnocaulon the appendages are more 

 marked. In the staminate flower they stand up in two or three 

 distinct lobes which are often papillose. In the pistillate flower 

 they are attached to the style in or below the sinuses of the 

 stigmas, apparently enclosing and cohering with the style. Nearly 

 all the botanists who have noticed these appendages regard those 

 of the staminate flowers as rudimentary pistils. Kunth consid- 

 ers them so in both kinds of flowers, but most botanists are con- 

 tent to call those of the fertile flowers merely appendages. 



Of the following species seven occur in the United States and 

 five in Mexico, of which two are more particularly described as 

 they approach our boundary near enough to render it probable 

 that sooner or later they will be detected on this side of the bor- 

 der. 



I. Eriocaulon articulatum (Huds.). 



NasmytJiia articulata, Huds. Fl. Ang. Ed. 2, 1,415 (1778). 



E. pelliicidiun, Mx. Fl. ii, 166 (1803). 



E. septangiilare, With. Ar. Br. PI. ii. 257. (1818); Torr. 

 Bot. N. Y. ii. 335 (1843), and other American authors. 



Stem a mere crown. Leaves pellucid, three to eight nerved, 

 fenestrate, acuminate, ^ to 3 inches long, usually equal to the 

 sheaths. Scapes weak, commonly twisted, about seven-angled, 

 smooth, mostly from 4 to 8 inches in height, but sometimes 

 scarely one inch, and when submersed often elongating till they 

 are from 4 to 10 feet long, usually solitary but occasionally 

 clustered, Involucral scales smooth or the innermost bearded at 

 the apex, oblong, obtuse, entire, scarious, of a livid or fuscous 

 tint, usually shorter than the flowers. Heads androgynous, the 



