Charu. monofcia monandria. 563 



Yovng shoots densely clothed with thick, soft, appressed, 

 white hairs. Leaves in general opposite, petioled, oblong-, 

 and oblong- cuneate, acute, serrate, above smooth, but hard, 

 downy underneath, and elegantly reticulated with numerous, 

 soft, hairy veins, and a deep green, smooth gland in the axills, 

 from two to twelve inches long, one of the pair is always 

 smaller than the other, and when single often oblique as in 

 Begonia. Petiolesround, clothed with appressed pubescence, 

 in each side of their insertion is a green gland. Stipules within 

 the leaves, caducous. Fruit for the most part in pairs, in ra- 

 dical withering racemes, and frequently of great length, with 

 their apices penetrating the earth. In their native soil the 

 whole raceme, and fruit are often entirely under ground ; also 

 found single or in pairs on the trunk and branches, though 

 less frequently than on the root. They are generally about 

 the size of a large nutmeg, obovate, very hairy ; the mouth 

 shut with numerous scales, the exterior ones glandular and 

 more remote; several obscure, equi-distant ridges run from 

 the umbilicus toward the base. Calyx of the fruit of three- 

 minute scales. Male corollets monandrous. 



In habit this plant is very much like F. oppositijhlia, but 

 the inflorescence is very different. 



CHARA. 



Male calyx none. Corol none. Anthers solitary under 

 the germ. Female calyx four-leaved. Corol none. Stigma 

 from three to five-cleft. JVut spiral, many-seeded. 



1. C. verticillata. Roxb. 



Joints of the stems and branches somewhat prickly. 

 Leaves verticelled, ten or twelve-jointed, with flowers on the 

 two or three lower joints. Calyx of the other joints abor- 

 tive. 



A native of India, where it grows in standing sweet water; 

 it appears and flowers during both the cold and hot seasons. 



3S2 



