674 POLYANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Anneslea. 



cutta, \\here it blossoms most part of the year, and is 

 known to the natives of those countries by the name 

 Makana. 



Root, consists of numerous, thick, fleshy fibres, which 

 descend deep into the soil at the bottom of the water the 

 plant grows in. Stemnone. Leaves radical, with petioles 

 sufficiently long to admit of their floating on the surface 

 of the water, peltate, from orbicular to oval, entire, having 

 the upper surface dark green, with ferruginous veins, and 

 armed with a few very slender prickles, of a most beau- 

 tiful purple, underneath and there reticulated with numer* 

 ous, very large, prominent, dichotomous, finally anas- 

 tamosing veins, armed with long, straight, very sharp, 

 strong spines ; size of the leaf from one to four feet each 

 way. Petioles round, and armed with straight spines. 

 Peduncles radical, one flowered, round, armed with 

 straight spines ; if the water is shallow they are gene- 

 rally so long as to elevate the flower above its surface; but 

 if deep, they blossom under water. Flowers small for the 

 size of the plant, colour a lovely blue-violet. Calyx four- 

 leaved, inserted on the cro\Mi of the germ, armed on the 

 outside with recurved spines, smooth and coloured on the 

 inside. Carol, petals about twenty, narrow, ovate-oblong ; 

 the exterior ones nearly as large as the calyx, gradually 

 lessening till they become very small, and nearly colour- 

 less next to the stamina. Filaments numerous, and like 

 the petals, lessening towards the centre. Anthers oval. 

 Germ beneath, ovate, armed, from six to eight-celled, each 

 containing from six to ten seeds attached to the partitions, 

 and to the exterior angles of the cells as in nymphaea. 

 Style none. Stigma cup-shaped, with the margin only 

 slightly marked with six, seven, or eight elevations. Berry 

 inferior, nearly round, size of an orange, swelling out in 

 various places by the growth of the seeds within, crowned 

 with some portion of the calyx and the rays of the sessile 

 peltate stigma which are from six tonight. Ce//« obscure. 



