ALISMACE^. (water-plantain FAMILY.) 449 



reticulated sheathing leaves, which are often without a blade. Flowers white, 

 commonly 3 in a whorl from the axils of persistent bracts. 

 * Filaments long and slender. 



1. S. falcata, Pursh. Tall; leaves erect, rigid, broadly lanceolate, acute 

 at each end, pinnately nerved, on long and stout petioles ; scape longer than the 

 leaves, often branching above ; pedicels of the sterile flowers slender, longer than 

 those of the fertile ones; bracts and sepals ovate, obtuse, granular-roughened; 

 stamens numerous, with hairy filaments ; achenia obliquely obovate, wing-keeled, 

 strongly beaked. (S. lancifolia, Michx.) — Lakes and rivers, Florida to South 

 Carolina, and westward. June -Sept. — Scape 2° -5° high. Leaves l°-2° 

 long. Flowers 1'- 1^' wide. 



2. S. variabilis, Engelm. Leaves mostly sagittate, acute or obtuse, vary- 

 ing from linear to broadly ovate, smooth, or rarely, like tlie scape, bracts, and 

 sepals, pubescent ; bracts acute ; flowers mostly large ; pedicels of the sterile 

 flowers twice as long as those of the fertile ones ; achenia obovate, beaked ; fila- 

 ments smooth. (S. sagittifolia, hastata, pubescens, &c. of authors.) — Marshes, 

 ditches, &c., Florida, and northward. July - Sept. — Scape 1 ° - 3° high, an- 

 gled. Leaves 2'- 12' long. 



* * Filaments short, thickened at the base. 



3. S. heterophylla, Pursh. Scape weak ; leaves linear or lanceolate, and 

 acute at each end, or elliptical, and obtuse or sagittate at the base ; bracts obtuse ; 

 sterile flowers on long and slender pedicels ; the fertile ones nearly sessile ; achenia 

 nan'owly obovate, long-beaked. — Margins of ponds and streams, Florida, and 

 northward — Leaves 2' -4' long. Scape few-flowered, the lowest whorl only 

 bearing fertile flo^vers. 



4. S. simplex, Pursh. Scape slender, commonly prostrate in fruit, simple 

 or branched ; leaves linear or lanceolate, acute at each end, 3-nerved, erect, the 

 earliest mostly destitute of a blade ; bracts membranaceous ; flowers small, all 

 on long filiform pedicels; stamens 10-12, hairy at the base; achenia obovate, 

 wing-keeled, beakless. (S. graminea, Michx.) — Shallow ponds in the pine bar- 

 rens, Florida, and northward. May - Oct. — Scape 10' - 15' high, usually longer 

 than the leaves 



5. S. natans, Michx. Small; leaves floating, ovate-oblong or elliptical, 

 obtuse at each end or the lowest slightly cordate, 5 - 7-nerved, about as long as 

 the few-flowered scape ; bracts membranaceous, acute ; pedicels of the fertile 

 flowers stouter than those of the sterile ones, recurved in fruit ; stamens 7 or 8 ; 

 achenia obovate, 3-ribbed on the back, short-beaked. — Shallow' ponds and 

 streams, Florida to Soutli Carolina. June -Sept. — Scapes 3' -6' long. Leaves 

 l'-2' long. 



Var. lorata. Leaves strap-shaped, obtuse, without a blade, nerveless ; scapes 

 floating or erect ; flowers sometimes dioecious ; achenia conspicuously beaked, 

 pimpled. — Brackish water, along the west coast of Florida. May - Sept. — 

 When growing in deep water the floating scapes are 2° -3° long; when on 

 muddy banks, only 3' - 5' high, and the short leaves bear much resemblance to 

 those of Crantzia lineata. In this state it is probably S. pusilla, Pursh. 



38* 



