BURMANNIACE^. (bURMANNIA FAMILY.) 4.31 



1. V. spiralis, L. — Slow-flowing streams and ponds, Florida, and north- 

 ward. July -Sept. y. — Plant creeping, proliferous. Leaves strap-shaped, 

 obtuse, 5-9-nerved, sharply serrulate, l°-3° long, 6"- 12" wide. Scape of 

 the sterile flowers 1 ' - 4'- long, of the fertile ones 2° - 5° long. Fruit 1 ' - 3' long, 

 often curved. 



3. LIMNOBIUM, Richard. 



Flowers monoecious, from a membranaceous mostly sessile spatbe, peduncled. 

 Sterile spathe entire, 2-3-flowercd; the fertile 3-leaved, 1-flowered. Sepals 

 and petals 3, united in the fertile flower, and coherent with the ovary. Stamens 

 6-12, monadelphous : anthers linear. Ovary 6 - 9-celled, with as many central 

 placentte, forming a many-seeded berry in fruit. Stigmas 6-9, each 2-parted. 

 — A floating aquatic herb, with copious pendent roots, long-petioled round- 

 cordate and many-nerved leaves, and small white flowers. 



I . L. Spongia, Richard. Stems extensively proliferous ; leaves purplish 

 beneath, and with air-cells near the base ; sterile peduncles tender, soon vanish- 

 ing ; the fertile ones commonly short and thick, recurved in fruit ; petals oblong, 

 alternating in the fertile flower with a pair of minute sterile filaments. (Hydro- 

 charis spongiosa, Bosc.) — Still water, Florida, and northward. July and Aug. 

 y. — Leaves 2' - 4' wide. 



Order 141. BURMANNIACE^. (Burmannia Family.) 



Small herbs, -with filiform stems, scale-like leaves, and regular perfect 

 flowers. — Sepals and petals united to form a tubular unequally 6-cleft 

 corolla-like perianth, with the tube coherent with the 1 or 3-celled many- 

 ovuled ovaj-y. Stamens 3 or 6, inserted on the tube of the perianth : 

 anther-cells separate, 2-lobed, opening crosswise. Style slender : stigmas 

 3, dilated. Placentae 3, central or parietal. Capsule many-seeded. Seeds 

 minute, •with a loose or reticulated testa. 



1. BURMANNIA, L. 



Tube of the perianth mostly 3-angled or 3-\vinged, 6-cleft, withering-persist- 

 ent ; the three interior lobes smaller. Stamens 3, very short, inserted opposite 

 the interior lobes of the perianth. Ovary 3-celled, with three thick 2-lobed cen- 

 tral placentas. Stigmas globose, dilated or 2-lobed. Capsule splitting at the 

 apex into 3 valves. — Radical leaves crowded and grass-like, or none ; those of 

 the stem minute, scale-like. Flowers racemose or clustered. 



1 . B. biflora, L. Stem simple, or forked above, 1 - se^'eral-flowered ; leaves 

 subulate, scattered ; perianth blue, broadly 3-winged, the exterior lobes erect, 

 ovate, acute, the interior linear and incurved; seeds oblong, striate. (Tripte- 

 rella coerulea, Michx. ) — Grassy or mossy margins of swamps and ponds, Flor- 

 ida to North Carolina. Sept. - Nov. — Stem l'-5' high. In this and the 

 following species the seeds escape through irregular fissures at the sides of the 

 capsule. 



