70 ON THE VEGETATION OF MALAYSIA, 



seen equally in the ditches of Britain, America, Australia and 

 Malaysia. This is Callitriche verna, worth more than a passing 

 examination for its curious fruits and monoecious flowers. It is 

 doubtful whether Myriophyllum occurs in Malaysia ; if it does, 

 M. indicum, Willd.,is the species. The Trapa can be recognised by 

 the seeds, but the lower leaves are finely multifid like Myriophyllum^ 

 while the upper or floating ones are deltoid, smooth and disposed 

 in a rosulate manner. The white kernel inside the hardened calyx- 

 lobes tastes like a chestnut and is nourishing. It is largely used 

 in France, Italy, India, Thibet, China and Japan. The Japanese 

 use the roots also, though the taste is not agreeable. In ffijypuris 

 the flower is reduced to a calyx of the smallest size, no petals and 

 but one stamen and one carpel. The stem is curiously formed of 

 cellular tissue radiating from the centre with large air-cavities 

 between. The centre is a cylinder of fine woody tubes, cellular 

 tissue and spiral vessels, which led Prof. Link to regard them as 

 endogens. The LENTiBULARiEiE are represented by probably half-a- 

 dozen species of Utricularia, the commonest of which are U. stellaris, 

 TJ. exoleta^ U. bifida and U. reticulata. In all these the stems are 

 floating with the leaves submerged, divided into capillary segments 

 with minute bladders attached, hence the vernacular name Bladder- 

 worts. Several small Indian species, growing on the ground, are 

 leafless at the time of flowering. H. reticulata, a species with 

 large purple flowers, is common in rice-fields. It is variable in 

 its habit and the size of its flowers. The larger forms of it are 

 twining ; the smaller rigid and erect. 



Of endogenous water-plants there is of course the Duck-weed 

 (Lemna oligorrhiza) a rather larger species than that of Europe. 

 Fotamogeton tenuicaulis with a few linear submerged leaves takes 

 the place of the British P. natajis. The Malaysian Frog-bit is 

 Enhalis Iccenigii with linear leaves and edible fruits found in fresh 

 and brackish waters. Its fibres are capable of being woven.* 



* On the authority of Lindley (Veg. King. p. 141), who quotes Agardh, 

 Aphorism! Botanioi, a reference which I am unable to verify. I know of 

 no economical purpose to which the fibre is applied in the East, but I may 

 add my own observation that the plant is rich m fibre of a fine and tenacious 

 quality. 



