RODOSTEMACEiE. (river-weed family.) 399 



cells confluent. Styles 2, slender : Btigmaa acute. Capsule 4-angled, 1- 

 celletl, with a single suspended anatropous seed in each cell, indehiscent. 

 Embryo straight, in copious fleshy albumen. Radicle long, superior. — 

 Consisting of the single genus 



1. CALLITRICHE, L. Water-Starwort. 



1. C. verna, L. Floating leaves spatulate or obovatc, crowded, the lower 

 ones distant, linear; fruit nearly sessile, 2-bracted, keeled on the back. (C. 

 heterophylla, A'//.) — Var. terrebtris. Smaller (2'-3' long); stems much 

 branched, creeping on damp earth; leaves (1"- 2" long) all linear. — Ditches 

 and shallow water, Florida, and northward. March and April. — Steins several, 

 G'- 12' long. Leaves £' long. 



Order 118. PODOSTEMACE^E. (River-weed Family.) 



Moss-like aquatic plants, with minute flowers, from a spathe-likc in- 

 volucre, and destitute of floral envelopes. — Stamens 5-12: anthers 

 2-celled. Capsule 2-3-eelled, and pointed by as many persistent styles. 

 Seeds numerous, on a thick central placenta, destitute of albumen. 



1. PODOSTEMON, Michx. River-weed. 



Spathe 2-leaved. Flowers pedicelled. Filaments elongated, borne on one 

 side of the stalk of the ovary, united below, and bearing only a single anther. 

 Styles 2, simple. Capsule ribbed, 2-celled, 2-valved. Seeds imbricated. — 

 Submerged aquatic plants, attached to rocks and pebbles by disk-like expan- 

 sions of the stem. Leaves 2-ranked, divided into filiform segments. 



1. P. ceratopbyllum, Michx. Leaves rigid, sparingly divided, sheath- 

 ing at the base ; flowers solitary, on slender pedicels ; capsule oval, 8-ribbed. — 

 Rocky places in rivers, Georgia, and northward. July. — Plant olive-green, 

 l'-4' long. 



2. P. abrotanoides, Nutt. Leaves much divided, with hair-like seg- 

 ments ; flowers 2-3 together, on short pedicels; capsule oblong, 10-ribbed. — 

 Gravelly places in the Chattahoochee River, Nuttall. — Plant larger than the 

 last. 



Order 119. EUPHORBIACEtE. (Spurge Family.) 



Plants commonly with acrid milky juiee, and monoecious or dioecious 

 often petalous flowers. — Calyx 2 - 8-lobed, mostly valvate in the bud, 

 sometimes wanting. Stigmas 2 -several, simple or divided. Fruit of 2 - 

 several (mostly 3) 1-2-seeded carpels united around a central axis, sep- 

 arating at maturity, rarely 1-celled or indehiscent. Seeds suspended, 

 anatropous. Embryo in fleshy albumen. Cotyledons flat. 



