ElatineJ] xviii, elatineje. 179 



specimens ovate-lanceolate or oblong, and exceedinj^ \ in., almost always 

 bordered by a few distant glands. Stipules very minute and deciduous, or 

 rarely more persistent, and \ line lon^. Flowers very minute, sessile and 

 solitary in one axil only of each pair of leaves, and in Australia almost always 

 3-merons. Sepals usually very minute and transparent, and the petals so 

 very small and fugacious as to be rarely found in dried specimens, except in 

 some western ones, where the petals are reddish and fidly | line long. Sta- 

 Kaens 3. Ovary depressed-globular, with 3 cells and 3 minute, punctiform, 

 almost sessile stigmas. Capsule often 1 line in diameter, the dissepiments 

 sometunes complete, sometimes obliterated at maturity. Seeds cylindrical, 

 ^ore or less curved or nearly straight, marked with longitudinal furrows and 

 Ttimute, transverse wrinkles^ — Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. i. 47; B. vihiima, Fisch. 

 and Mey. in Linntea, x. 73 ; F. Muell. PI. Vict. i. 195 ; E. gratiohldes, A, 

 Cunn. in Ann. Nat. Hist. iii. 26. 



Queensland. Brisbane river, F. Mueller. 



Victoria. Muddy places and margins of still fresh-waters, sparingly distributed over 

 the colony, F, Mueller. 



Tasmania, Marshes in the northern and central parts of the island^ J. D. Hoolcer. 



^Australia. Lake Torrens, F. Mueller, 



W. Australia, Brummond, n. 604, C05, 684 ; Murchison river, Oldfeld. 



This plant, whether a distinct species or a variety of the N. American one, is found also in 

 ■^ew Zealand and the Fiji inlands, and is very variable. In the majority of specimens from 

 various localities, I have always found 3 very thin sepals and 3 stamens, but have failed to de- 

 tect the petals even in a sary early stage. Amongst them Druminond's n. 605 are remark- 

 able for the large size of the capsiiles ; some of Gunn's, from a lagoon at Georgetown, where 

 they are under water, and Drummond's n. 684, probably also from under water, have elon- 

 gated stems and leaves 6 to 9 lines long; F. Mueller's, from the Brisbane river, have also 

 ^fig leaves and remarkably large stipules. A western specimen ia Herb. Hooker, from 

 I^rummond, differs still more in the well-developed red petals, of a firm consistence and re- 

 inaimng long persistent. The N. American plant {A. Gray, Gen. III. i. 95) ditfers chiefly in 

 the floweis almost constantly dimerous, which does not occur in any southern specimens I 



hav 



e examined. 



2. BERGMA, Linn. 



■Howers o-merous, or rarely 3-4-meroiis. Sepals herbaceous or keeled in 

 tne centre, acute, usually membranous and transparent on the edges. Ovary 

 ovoid or globular. Capsule somewhat crustaceous, the valves somclinics in- 

 duphcate on the edges and carrying off nearly the whole of the dissepiments, 

 sometimes nearly flat, leaving more or less of the dissepiments attached to 

 the axis.-^IIcrbs or undershrubs, prostrate or much branched, often pnbes- 

 ^6«t. Leaves opposite, entire or more frequently serrate. Flowers axilhiry, 

 sohtaiy or clustered in cymes, small, but usually larger than in Elatine. 



The genus is widely distriLuted over the warmer regions of tlie globe. F. IMudler pro- 

 poses to unite it with Elatine, but slight as are the characters, they are accompanied by a 

 ^ery decided difference in habit, and the two general are therefore natuial. Of the three or 

 7/. , ^*^*'^1'^^ species two are endemic, but uearlv allied to corrcsi)on(ling S. African ones, 

 ^ ^nird B.ammannioides, ia a common A^^iatic and^African weed, of which the fourth may be 

 » mere variety, 



■^iowers small, clustered in the axils. Stamens of the same number 

 as the petals and scpak 

 sterns pubescent . • • • 1- -o. ammannioiae$. 



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