122 



ERIOCAULACEiE. 



[Endogens. 



ORDER XXXIII. ERIOCAULACE^.— PiPEwoRTS. 



Eriocauloneffi, L. C. Richard in H. B. K. Nov. Gen. et Sp. PI. 1. 251. (1815) ; Desvaux in Ann. Sc. 13. 

 36. ; Martins in Act. Acad. Cces. Nat. cur. 17. ; Endl. Gen. xlvi. ; Meisner. gen. p. 407 ; Eriocau- 

 leae, Kunth. enum. 3. 493. ; Act. Acad. Wissench. Berlin, Febr. 1841. 



Diagnosis. — Glumal Endogens^ with a 2-d-ceUed ovary, a pendulous ovule, 2-celled anthers, 

 a terminal embryo, and a 3-lohed citp ^oithin the glumes. 



Perennial marsh -plants, mth linear cellular spongy leaves sheatliing at the base. 

 Flowers capitate, bracteate, very minute, $ $ . Glumes two, 

 unilateral, or 3. A membranous tube, with 2 or 3 teeth or 

 lobes, surrounds the ovary. Ovary superior 3- or 2-celled ; 

 o^^IIes sohtary, orthotropal ; style very short ; stigmas as 

 numerous as the cells of the ovary. Dehiscence of the capsule 

 loculicidal. Seeds sohtary, pendulous, coated with wings or 

 rows of hau's. Embryo more or less lenticular, lying upon the 

 albmnen at the end of the seed most remote from the lulum. 



This order is usually combined with Restiaceae (or Cord- 

 leafs) from wliich, in a memoii' in the 17th vol. of the 

 Nova Acta, Von Martins separates it on the foUo^Ning 

 grounds. Restiacese : Flowers in spikes. Calyx glumaceous 

 V- Stamens in a single row, 1-3, opposite the 

 petals ; anthers generally 1 -celled. Seeds with 

 out rows of hairs. Eriocaulacese : Flowers 

 in heads, imisexual. Calyx sepaloideous /\. 

 Stamens 3, 6, 2, 4 ; if m two rows, with the 

 inner I'ow most developed ; anthers 2-celled. 

 Seeds sohtary, N\'ith rows of hau's. The most 

 important distuictions seem to consist in the 

 presence among the Pipeworts of a membra- 

 nous tube, winch may be regarded as the 

 most distinct approach, in the Glumal AUiance, 

 to the corolla of the petaloid series, and in the 

 anthers being 2-celled, not 1-celled ; a fui-ther 

 indication of a higher order of development. 

 XjTids, with a perfect corolla, may be re- 

 garded as the link which coimects these plants 

 with some of the more perfect orders of En- 

 dogens. 



Many remarkable species are figxu'ed by 

 Bongard in Memoirs of the Imperial Academy 

 of St. Petershurgh, 6th series, I. p. 601., &c. 



A large number of species is collected under 



this head ; all of which are amphibious or 



aquatic. According to Endlicher, two-thu-ds 



are found in the tropics of America, and half the remamder in the north of New Holland. 



A few occur in North America, and one is found in Great Britain, in the isle of Skye. 



Eriocaulon setaceum, boiled in oil, is said to be a popular remedy for the itch in the 



East Indies. 



Fig. LXXXII. 



Lachuocaulon , Kth. 

 Eriocaulon, L. 



Dupatya, Fl. fliim. 



Nasmythia, Hud?,. 



GENERA. 



Tonina, Atibl. 



Hyphydra, Schreb. 

 PhDodice, Mart. 



Randalia, Petiv. 



Sphcei-ochloa, Palis. 

 Leucocephala, Roxb. 

 Paepalanthus , Mart. 



Numbers. Gen. 9. Sp 200 (Kunth). 



Jancaceoi. 

 Position. — Restiacese. — Eriocaulace^. 

 Xyridaceee. 



Cladocaulon, Gardn. 

 Steplianophyllum, GuilL 

 ? Symphachne, Palisot. 



Fig. LXXXII.— Tonina fliiviatili.'i. 1- $ flower; 2. centre of do. ; 3. ? 

 of ripe fruit .; 6. seed; 6. section of do.— J/fo<i»#. 



6 flowers : 4. section 



