496 rONTI-.DKKIACKA:. (riCKKUKL-WlCKU lAMll.Y.) 



A smooth liorb, with filnons roots, flat and hranching stems, short sword -shaped 

 equitant leaves, and clustered greenish flowers. 



1. C. flabellata, Dcsv. Stems mostly creeping; or floating; leaves linear- 

 swordsiiaped ; tliose of the stem nearly opposite ; heads cymose, scattered, top- 

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

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

 much shorter than the flat interior ones ; fllaments exserted. (Juncus repens, 

 Mk-hx.) — Miry banks of streams and ponds, Florida to North Carolina. July. 

 — Stems ^°-30 long. 



Order 154. POA'TEDERIACE.li]. (Pickerel- weed 

 Family.) 



Perennial aquatic or mar-sh herbs, witli perfect mostly irregular flowers 

 from a l-leavcd spathe. — Perianth corolla-like, unecjually G-<k'ft or 6- 

 parted, imbricated in the bud, withering-persistent. Stamens 3 - G, 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. Pickerkl-weed. 



Perianth funnel-shaped, 2-lip])ed, with the upper lip 3-lobed, the lower 3-partcd, 

 the curved tube fleshy and coiled in fruit. Stamens 6, unccjualiy inserted ; 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 sus- 

 pended ovule. Style slender. Capsule (utricle) I-secded. — Rhizoma thick and 

 creeping. Stem erect, bearing above the middle a single short-petioled leaf, and 

 at the summit a hairy spike of blue flowers, from a 1 -leaved spathe. Radical 

 leaves long-petioled, sheathing. 



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

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

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

 spathe ; upper lobe of the hairy perianth spotted with yellow, the tube 6-ril)i)ed. 

 (P. lancifolia, Mulil., and P. angustifolia, Pursh, are narrow-leaved forms.) — 

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



2. SCHOLLERA, Scbreb. 



Perianth salver-form, nearly equally 6-lobed, the tube elongated and filiform. 

 Stamens 3, nearly equal : filaments subulate : anthers sagittate-oblong, yellow. 

 Style long and slender. Capsule oblong, 1-celled, loculicidally 3-valved, with 

 three parietal placentie many-seeded. — A small aquatic herb, with slender 

 branching stems, linear sessile leaves, and a small terminal yellow flower. 



