HALORAGE^. 227 



10. LUDWIGIA, Linna'us. Herbs of various habit (ours creeping 

 and aquatic or riparian), witb. entire leaves, and axillary or spicate color- 

 less or yellow 4— 5-merous flowers. Calyx-tube prismatic or cylindrical, 

 not produced beyond the ovary ; lobes 4 or 5, persistent. Petals as 

 many, or 0. Stamens as many or twice as many. Ovary broad at apex 

 and usually flattened, or crowned with a conical style-base ; stigma 

 capitate, 4 — 5-grooved. Capsule 4 — 5-celled, dehiscent by lateral slits or 

 terminal pores. Seeds very many, minute. 



* Leaves opposite; Ji. 4-merous, apelalous. — Genus Isnardia, Linn. 



1. L. palustris, Ell. Sk. i. 211 (1821) ; Linn. Sp. PI. i. 120 (1753), 

 under Isnardia. Glabrous ; stems creeping or floating, 4 — 10 in. long : 

 leaves all opposite, oval or ovate, acute, % — 1 in. long, tapering to a short 

 petiole : fl. sessile, 1 in each axil : petals rarely present, minute, reddish : 

 capsule oblong, 2 lines long or less, somewhat 4-angled. — Common on 

 muddy banks and shores of streams and ponds in the Sacramento and San 

 Joaquin valleys ; also in the mountain districts adjacent on both sides. 



* * Leaves alternaie; fl. 5 merous, inlh large yellow caducous pe'.als. — 

 Genus Jussi^a, Linn. 



2. L. diffusa (Forsk, ^gypt.-Arab. 210, under Jussixa), var. Cali- 

 foriiica, Greene. Jussixa repens, var. Californica, Wats. Bot. Calif, i. 

 217 (1876). Perennial, the stout floating stems 1 ft. to 2 yards long ; 

 herbage altogether glabrous : leaves obovate to obovate-oblong and even 

 lanceolate, obtuse or acute, 1 — 23^ in. long, on petioles of % — 1 in.; 

 stipules gland-like or slightly scale-like : fl. 6—8 lines broad, deep 

 yellow ; the petals obtuse, but not obcordate : fr. 1 in. long, spongy and 

 indehiscent ; the pedicel ^^ in. or more. — Plentiful, forming extensive 

 floating masses, covering the surface of stagnant waters in the interior, 

 from Lathrop and Stockton to above Sacramento ; flowering in early sum- 

 mer. The plant is far from agreeing with the description of L. (Jussi^aJ 

 repens; and, following a suggestion from Baron von Mueller, I find it 

 more nearly at agreement with L. (Jussixa) diffusa, which occurs in 

 Australia. 



Oeder XXXI. HALORAGE/E. 



Eobert Brown, in Flinder's Voyage, 17 (1814). 



A small order, not very distinct from the last : the plants herbaceous 

 and mostly aquatic, with small inconspicuous usually apetalous flowers 

 sessile in the axils of leaves or bracts. Calyx, in fertile flowers, adnate 

 to the ovary, its limb there short or obsolete. Fruit indehiscent and 

 nut-like, 1 — 4-celled, with a single seed suspended in each cell. Coty- 

 ledons small and short. Albumen copious. 



