TETRANDRIA— MONOGYNIA. Isnardia. 223 



fertile, their red calyx becoming greatly elongated as the seed 

 ripens ; the intermediate one has no stamens, but a fertile pis-til, 

 whose calyx, though likewise investing its own seed, remains but 

 little altered. 

 The whole plant is mucilaginous, and has been used in medicine 

 as an emollient. 



*77. ISNARDIA. Isnardia. 



Linn. Gen. 61. Juss. 333. Lam. t. 77. 



Nat. Ord. Calycanthemce. Linn. 17. Salicarice. Juss. 91. 



Cal. superior, bell-shaped, in 4? deep, equal, ovate, broad, 

 spreading, permanent segments. Cor. none. Filam. 

 snorter than the calyx, alternate with its segments, awl- 

 shaped. AntJi. oblong, simple. Germ, inferior, oblong, 

 quadrangular. Style cylindrical, longer than the stamens, 

 shorter than the calyx. Stig7na capitate. Caps, qua- 

 drangular, oblong, membranous, crowned with the calyx, 

 of 4 cells. Seeds numerous, oblong, attached to the cen- 

 tral column. 



Only one species. 



1. I. palustris. Marsh Isnardia. 



I. palustris. Linn. Sp. PL 175. Willd. v. 1. 680. Ait. Hort. Keiv. 

 ed. 2.v.\. 266. " Schkuhr Handb. v. 1. 84. t. 25 ." 



Alsine palustris, seu paludosa, rotundifolia repens, foliis portulacse 

 pinguibus binis ex adverso nascentibus, flosculis virescentibus 

 rosaceis. Lind. Tournef. Alsat.\\5. t.2,b. Alsat. 204. 



Glaux major palustris, flore herbaceo. Bocc. Mus. 105. t. 84./. 2. 

 Moris. Hort. Bices. 82. 268. Raii Hist. v. 2. 1 102. v. 3. 635. 



In ponds and waterv places. 



Found in a pool at Buxted, Sussex, in 1827, by Mr. W. Borrer. 



Annual. July. 



Herb floating, smooth, with numerous, long, filamentous roots. 

 Stems several, about a span long, simple, or slightly branched, 

 leafy, bluntly quadrangular. Leaves opposite, stalked, ovate, 

 acute, undivided, entire, scarcely an inch in length, bright green, 

 somewhat succulent 5 the mid-rib often red or purplish. Bracteas 

 two, acute, small. Fl. axillary, solitary, sessile, small, green 

 and inconspicuous. Segments of the calyx triangular. The 

 taste is merely herbaceous, nor is any particular quality attri- 

 buted to this plant. 



Dr. Swartz found a plant in Jamaica, agreeing, as he says, ex- 

 actly with this, except in having four small, fugacious, yellow 

 petals, which induced him to refer it to Luduigia; though he 

 remarked that the seeds were attached to the central column, 



