486 XLV, HALOllAGE^. 



8. MEIONECTES, K. Br, 



r 



Calyx-tube or ovary somewhat compressed, lobes 2. Petals 2, induplicate 

 and boat-shaped. Stamens 4 ; filaments short. Ovary 2-celled with 1 pen- 

 dulous ovule in each cell; styles 2. Fruit small, 2-celled.— Diffuse herb 

 with alternate once or twice pinnatifid leaves, and the inflorescence of Halo- 

 ragis. 



The genus is limited to a single species eBdemic iu Australia, only differing from Halo- 

 ragis in the hinary not ternary or quaternary numbers of the parts of the flower. 



1. M. Brownii, Hook, f. in Hook. Ic. PL L 306, and FL Tasm. 1 133. 

 A'glabrous slender herb, creeping and rooting at the base, the branches 

 ascending sometimes to the height of 6 in., or when luxuriant to 1 ft. Leaves 

 alternate, deeply pinnatifid with linear lobes 'not broader than the comraon 

 rhachis, the larger ones often again lobed, the upper floral leaves smaller and 

 more entire. Flowers in clusters of 2 or more in the upper axils, the upper 

 ones forming a more or less leafy raceme. Calyx-lobes short. Petals gla- 

 brous, about 1 line long. Fruit ovate, slightly compressed, 1^ to 2 hues 

 long, including the erect connivent persistent calyx-lobes, more or less tug^s^ 

 and usually with the 2 ribs prominent on the edge.— If. Fremii, Nees m i'h 

 Preiss. i. 224. 



Victoria. Wet pastures and swamps in various parts of the colony, F. Mueller an 

 others. , 



Tasmania. Pools of fresh water at Circular Head and other places in the nortnera 



parts of the island, /. i). Hooker. p 'n 



S. Australia. Valleys of Mount Lofty ranges where inundated in time ol raiB, 



F. Mueller. 



Sw , _ _.^ 



coarser and 'rather larger in all their parts "than most of the Tasmanian and ^'i^t^^**^^/'"^? 

 hut some of F. Mueller's are almost if not quite as large as Preiss's, and some ot nio 

 are quite as slender as those from Tasmania, 



W. Australia. Swamps, King George's SounJ and to the eastward, R. -Sro^^ 

 an River, Preiss, n. 2385 ; Flinders Bay, Collie. These western specimens are ge^^^ j' 



1 .1 . . „ .. . ... . » .1 m :_„ „..;i Victnrian ODES, 



4. MYKIOPHYIiLUM, Linn. 



Plowers mostly unisexual. Male fl. : Calyx-tube veiy short^ or scarcejj 

 any, lo])es short, petal-like or scarcely any. Petals 4, concave, imbricate 

 half induplicate. Stamens 4, 6 or 8. Styles minute and ^'^^^i™^^^^^^'^ W^^ 

 out any ovules. Female fl. : Calyx-tube ovoid, lobes minute or none, t _^ 

 usually none. Ovary 2- Or 4-celled, witli one pendulous ovule ^^^^^^^^^^^^jj 

 styles as many as ovules, usually short and stigmatic from the ^^^*^' . jj^jj 

 plumose. Truit small, usually furrowed between the 2 or 4 carpels, ^^^ 



at length separate into as many small 1-seeded nuts. . ^^^^^^^^,| ^ l^besj 

 lower leaves w^hen submerged often pinnately divided into ^^P^ ^'^'^^^^^ 

 those of the flowering extremities usually less divided or entire. ^^ ^^^ 

 very small, in the axils of the exserted flowering leaves or rarely a s ^^^^ 

 tirely in the submerged axils, the upper ones usually males, the ^^^ .^^^ 

 females, sometimes dioecious, but perhaps not constantly so m any sp ^^^ 



The genus is found in fresh waters nearly in every part of the globe. ^ i-ofropical ^" 

 tralian species, 3 are also in New Zealand, and one of these extends to eiuai i 

 America, the remaining 9 arc endemic. 



