POXTEDERIACE.E. (piCKEREL-WEED FAMILY.) 523 



ous, 2 - 4-flo\vered ; seeds narrower and more-pointed. — Ditches and low 

 grounds. July - Sept. — The variety in the lower districts. 



19. J. bufonius, L. Annual; stems low (2' -8' high), tufted; often 

 branched ; leaves very narrow ; panicles forking ; flowers solitary or 3 - 6 in a 

 cluster ; sepals whitish, lanceolate, acute, longer than the oblong obtuse pale 

 capsule. — Damp cultivated ground, apparently introduced. April- May. 



20. J. leptocaulis, Torr. & Gray. Stems low (6'- 12' higli), caespitose, 

 slender ; leaves flat, shorter than the stem ; heads 1 - 5, 3 - 6-flowered ; sepals 

 ovate-lanceolate, nearly equal, awn-pointed, longer than the 3 - G stamens, 

 and obovate capsule; seed obovate, apiculate. — Georgia, Tennessee, and 

 westward. 



21. J. repens, Michx. Stems mostly creeping or floating ; leaves linear- 

 sword-sliajied, those of the stem nearly opposite ; heads cymose, scattered, top- 

 shaped, several-flowered ; sepals rigid, lanceolate-subulate, sleuder-pointed, the 

 exterior strongly keeled, and as long as the linear-oblong obtuse capsule, 

 much shorter than the flat interior ones ; filaments exserted. — Miry banks of 

 streams and ponds, Florida to North Carolina. July. — Stems 6'- 2° long. 



Order 156. PONTEDERIACEyE. (Pickerel-weed Family.) 



Perennial aquatic or marsh herbs, with perfect mostly irregular 

 flowers from a 1-leaved spathe. — Perianth corolla-like, unequally 6- 

 cleft or 6-parted, imbricated in the bud, witliering-persistent. Stamens 

 3-6, more or less unequal, and unequally inserted on the throat of 

 the perianth : anthers 2-celled, erect, introrse. Ovary free. Style 

 single: stigma 3-6-lobed. Capsule 1-3-celled, 1 - many-seeded. 

 Seeds anatropous. Embryo slender, in mealy albumen. 



1. PONTEDERIA, L. Wampee. Pickerel-weed. 



Perianth funnel-shaped, 2-lipped, with the upper lip S-lolied, the lower 3- 

 parted, the curved tube fleshy and coiled in fruit. Stamens 6, uneijually in- 

 serted; the three lower ones exserted, the three upper short and often 

 imperfect : anthers oval, blue. Ovary 3-celled, two of the cells empty, the 

 other with a single suspended ovule. Style slender. Capsule (utricle) 1- 

 seeded. — Rhizoma thick and creeping. Stem erect, bearing above the mid- 

 dle a single short-petioled leaf, and at the summit a hairy spike of blue flow- 

 ers, from a 1-leaved spathe. Radical leaves long-petioled, sheathing. 



1. P. oordata, L. Stem and terete petioles erect (2° -.3° high); leaves 

 (3' - 8' long) varying from round-cordate to lance-oblong, obtuse, finely nerved ; 

 spike dense, cylindrical (2'-4' long), the peduncle enclosed in the convolute 

 spathe ; upper lobe of tlie hairy perianth spotted with yellow, the tube 6-ribbed. 

 — Miry margins of ponds and rivers, Florida, and northward. July -Sept. 



2. HETERANTHERA, Ruiz & Pavon. 



Perianth salver-form, 6-lobed, the tube long and slender. Stamens 3, nearly 

 equal. Capsule l-celled, with 3 parietal placcntic, many -seeded. 



