204 HEXANDRIA— POLYGYNIA. Alisma. 



Root fibrous. Leaves all radical, on long stalks, erect, ovate, 

 acute, ribbed ; in deep or running water lengthened out more 

 or less, and then constituting the varieties /3 and y ; in the latter 

 they are perfectly linear. Flower-stalk rising 2 or 3 feet above 

 the water, panicled, with innumerable whorled, compound, 

 spreading, bracteated branches and subdivisions. Bracteas ag- 

 gregate, lanceolate, membranous, brownish. Fl. terminal, soli- 

 tary, small, of a delicate pale purple. Capsules ranged side by 

 side in a circle. 



The remark in Fl. Brit, referring this, in character or qualities, to 

 the Ranunculacece, is altogether erroneous. 



2. A. Damasonium. Star-headed Water-plantain. 

 Leaves oblong ; heart-shaped at the base. Styles six. Cap- 

 sules tapering. 



A. Damasonium. Linn. Sp. PI. 486. Willd. v.2.277. Fl.Br.40]. 



Engl. Bot. V. 23. t. 1615. Curt. Lond. fasc. 5. t. 28. Forst. 



Tonbr. 47. 

 Damasonium stellatum. Dalech. Hist. 1058./. Rail Syn. 372. 

 Plantago aquatica minor stellata. Ger. Em. 417. f. 

 P. aquatica minor altera. Lob. Ic. 301./. 

 Star Water Plantain. Pet. H. Brit. t. 43./. 5. 



In ditches and pools, on a gravelly soil, but not common. 



About London in several places. Ra?j, Curtis. On Hounslow heath, 

 and on Wingfield plain near Windsor. Bishop of Carlisle. " Near 

 EUesmere, Shropshire. Dr. Evans. At Framlingham, Suffolk. 

 Rev. Mr. Crabbe. In Sussex. Mr. Borrer." Bot. Guide. On 

 Waterdown Forest, and in the ponds at Abergavenny Park, near 

 Tonbridge. Mr. Forster. 



Perennial. June, July. 



Root of many long pale fibres. Leaves all radical, floatingi blunt- 

 ish, with 5 ribs ; a little heart-shaped at the base. Footstalks 

 very broad, with many ribs and a membranous border, tapering 

 upwards. Flower-stalks scarcely a span high, bearing I or 2 

 whorls of white^owers, yellow in the middle. Capsules 6, spread- 

 ing in the form of a star, half-ovate, keeled, compressed, acute. 

 Seeds 1 or 2 in each capsule. 



3. A. nutans . Floating Water-plantain. 



Leaves elliptical, obtuse. Flower-stalks simple. Capsules 

 striated. 



A. natans. Linn. Sp. PL 487. Willd. v.2.278. R.Br. 402. Engl. 



Bot. v.W.t. 775. Davies Welsh Bot. 36. Fl. Dan. t. 1 573. 

 Damasonium repens, Potamogetonis rotundifolii folio. Vaill. Act. 



Paris, for \7\9.3\\. t.4.f.8; German edition. 

 In the lakes of North Wales and Cumberland. 



