462 HYDROCHARIDACE.32. (FROG’s-BIT FAMILY.) 
i. limn6biuji, Richard. American Frog’s-bit. 
Flowers dioecious (or monoecious?), from sessile or somewhat 
peduncled spathes ; the sterile spathe 1-leaved, producing about 3 
longr-pedicelled flowers ; the fertile 2-leaved, with a single short- 
pedicelled flower. Calyx 3-parted or cleft; sepals oblong-oval. 
Petals 3, oblong-linear. Filaments entirely united in a central 
solid column, bearing 6-12 linear anthers at unequal heights: 
there are 3-6 awl-shaped rudiments of stamens in the fertile 
flowers. Ovary 6 - 9-celled by the prolongation and union of as 
many placentae in the axis, forming an ovoid many-seeded berry in 
fruit: stigmas as many as the cells, but 2-parted, awl-shaped 
(ovules orthotropous, Torr.). —A stemless perennial herb, float¬ 
ing in stagnant water, proliferous by runners, with long-petioled 
round-heart-shaped leaves, which are spongy-reticulated and pur¬ 
plish underneath ; rootlets slender, hairy. Sterile flowers rather 
small; the fertile larger: peduncle nodding in fruit. Petals 
white ? (Name from Aq«/dj3ios, living in pools.) 
1. l<. Sp6ngia, Richard. (Hydrocharis, Bose. H. cordifblia, 
Nutt.) — Braddock’s Bay (Monroe county), Lake Ontario, Dr. Brad¬ 
ley, Dr. Sartioell. Aug—Leaves V-2 r long, faintly 5-nerved. Pe¬ 
duncle of the sterile flower about 3 r long, thread-like ; of the fertile 
only 1', stout. 
2. IDORA, Nutt. Water-weed. 
Flowers polygamo-dicecious, solitary and sessile from a sessile 
and tubular 2*cleft axillary spathe. Sterile flowers minute, with a 
6-parted perianth, viz., the sepals and petals each 3, and nearly 
equally colored, oval: anthers 9, oval, nearly sessile. The fertile 
flowers also bear 3 - 6 or more oblong anthers, often apparently 
well-formed. Perianth of the fertile flowers extended into an ex¬ 
tremely long and capillary tube; the small lobes (sepals and pe¬ 
tals) obovate, spreading. Ovary 1-celled, with 3 projecting parietal 
placentae, each bearing a few orthotropous ovules ; the capillary 
style coherent with the tube of the perianth : stigmas 3, large, 2- 
lobed, exserted. Fruit oblong, coriaceous, few-seeded.— A per¬ 
ennial ? herb, growing under water, with elongated branching 
stems, thickly beset with pellucid and veinless, 1-nerved, sessile, 
whorled or opposite leaves. The staminate flowers break off, as 
in Vallisneria, and float on the surface, where they expand and 
