CUARACEjE. equisetace^. 55 



CntETOMITRICM ScOTTIANTM, C. Muoll. 

 ]{0ZIA DECOI.ORATA, C. Mufll. 

 PlATV-HYI'NTJI MEOAIiLASTUM, C. Miull. 

 HyPNTM MAHCIDriX.M, C. MlU'll. 

 H. ROBUSTI-PIXNATUM, C. JIuoll. 

 H. FULyO-NITEXS, C. Muc'll. 

 H. REFLEXULUM, C. JIlU'll. 

 DeEPAXO-IIYPNTM SUIlLEIOraVLLUH, lluiiipo. 



D. scAiiiurscuLUJi, Hampe. 

 D. iTXCTi'LATUM, C. Haiiipe. 

 I). VAKiiFLExm, Hampc. 

 D. rnioNormcnvji, C. Muoll. 



D. CUEVATIEAltECSI, C. MuC'll. 



Older CHAllACEJi:.' 



Acotylfdonous plants, cellular, aijuatic. Stems tubular, jointed, naked or sur- 

 rounded by se\-cral parallel elongated cells, liruiiches wliorled, on a level with the 

 joints. Reproductive organs antheridia and sporangia, borne on the branches. 



Characea: often exhale a fuHid alliaceous odour, and their transparent rhizome 

 is fixed in the mud of stagnant and running water, by filiform tubular rootlets. 

 The ])lant is sometimes reproduced by the lower nodes of tho stem being converted 

 into starchy tubers. 



CiiARA, Linnffus. 



C. Gyjixoi'iiYS, A. Biongn. In paddy fields along the Koladyne Valley. 



NiTELLA, Agardh. 



N. EoxBUEnnii, A. Brongn. Kya-eng, Pegu. 



N. MicuoGi.ocniA, A. Brongu. Arakan. Swamps on the Koladyne Iviver. 



N. ouGosriBA, A. Brongn. Kya-eng, Pegu. 



Order EQUISETACEiE (norsetails).^ 



A singular order of leafless Acrogens with hollow jointed sleius which are simple 

 or branched. The place of leaves is taken by a membranous .sheath at every joint, 

 completely surrounding the stem or branch in a whorl, and is divided either into 

 a number of small teeth like a saw, or into fewer and more elongated lobes. Any 

 one who has noticed the Casuarinas, which are so common on the sandy soa-.shores 

 of Burma, may be said to have seen a gigantic equisetiim. It is impossible to look 

 at the branches of this singular tree without seeing the likeness at once. Their 

 jointed branchlets (for they are leafless too), harsh to the touch like an Ec|uisetum, 

 with toothed sheaths also at the joints, suggest tluit plant at once. They are, how- 

 ever, in all but this accidental though obvious similarity, widely dirt'erent plants. 



The fructification of Etiuisetum (the only genus) is in the shape of a terminal 

 cone, commonly about J to I inch in length, consisting of a number of peltate, or shield- 

 like scales, attached to a central axis, packed closely together by their edges, tho flat 

 shield-like surface being outwaixls. As the cone ripens and expands, the edges of the 



' " k family of plants generally classed among the .^Ig*, but whicli, from the cliaraetcr of tlirir 

 reproductive organs, perhaps demaml a more t'lcvated position. Tliev are reniarkalde for tlirir well- 

 known circulation, first discovered hy Corti. Tlie Cli:irace;e are aquatic plants of tilaiiientous stnicturo, 

 exhibiting elongated axes furnished at intervals with v.liorls of branches." — GriUith and lleufrey, 

 Micrograph. Dictionary. 



"Tubular, symmetrically branelied bodies, multiplied by spiral coated nucides, filled with starcli." 

 — I.indley, Veg. iKingdom. 



* The present account of *lie Ferns and Fern allies of Burma is drawn up and arranged by 

 the Rev. C. Parish, but the localities tr()m the Nieobiir group have been addetl from a paper on the 

 vegetation of the Xieobar Island in the Journal of tlie .\siatie Society of Hengal, 1870. Part II. 

 p. 105, and where a species has been added on the authority of Kurz the letter (K.) indicates the fact. 



