MELANTHACE^ 163 



5. TOFIELDIA, Huds. 



Flowers small, in spikes or racemes at the end of a 

 slender leafless scape; leaves linear; seed-vessel com- 

 posed of 3 follicles. 



T. cafyculata, Whlb. ; flowers yellow or reddish, sub- 

 tended by a calyx-like involucre ; damp pastures, fre- 

 quent. T.palustriSf Huds. ; involucral scales at the base 

 of the flower-stalk, but not beneath the flower, spike 

 shorter ; damp pastures, not so common. 



Order XCL— ALISMACEiE. 



Flowers usually bisexual, in panicles or umbels ; sepals 

 and petals 3 each, the former green or coloured stamens 

 6 or more ; ovary of many carpels ; leaves chiefly radical. 

 Aquatic or marsh plants ; not alpine. 



I. ALISMA, L. 



Flowers bisexual ; sepals green ; petals white or light 

 pink ; carpels very numerous, free ; leaves erect. 



A. Plantago, L., Water- Plantain ; flowers in a branched 

 panicle, carpels arranged in a whorl, stem 1-3 ft., leaves 

 ovate-lanceolate; ditches, common. A. ranunculoides , L.; 

 flowers in an umbel, carpels arranged in a globular 

 head, stem 6-18 in., leaves linear-lanceolate; ditches; 

 Switzerland, rare. A. pm-nassifolium^ L.; flowers in a 

 panicle, leaves obtuse, cordate; Tirol, Carinthia, Styria, 

 Dauphiny. 



