ARROWROOT FAMILY. ‘ 455 
1. THALIA L, Sp. Pl. 1193. 1753. 
Annual (or perennial?) herbs, with large long-petioled basal leaves, erect simple scapes 
and terminal panicled spikes of bracted usually purple flowers. Sepals 3, membranous, sepa- 
rate, equal. Petals 3, separate or somewhat coherent at the base. Staminodia slightly united 
below, one of them (labellum) broad, crested. Anther I-celled. Ovary 1-celled or with 2 
additional small empty cavities. Base of the style adnate to the base of the stamen-tube. 
Stigma 2-lipped, dorsally appendaged. Capsule globose or ovoid. Seed solitary, erect. 
Embryo strongly curved. [In honor of Johann Thalius, German naturalist of the sixteenth 
century. ] 
About 7 species, all American. Besides the following, another occurs in the Southern States. 
1. Thalia dealbata Roscoe. Powdery 
Thalia. (Fig. 1086.) 
Thalia dealbata Roscoe, Trans. Linn. Soc. 8: 340. 
1807 
Plant finely white-powdery nearly all over. 
Scapes rather stout, terete, 3°-6° tall; petioles 1°- 
214° long, terete; leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute or 
acuminate at the apex, rounded, narrowed or sub- 
cordate at the base, %°-1° long, 3/-5’ wide; pan- 
icle 8’-18/ long, its spikes numerous, usually erect 
or ascending; bracts of the panicle narrow, decid- 
uous, not longer than the spikes; bractlets ovate, 
unequal, coriaceous, about 34’ long; flowers pur- 
ple, longer than the bractlets; capsule ovoid, 
about 4’’ in diameter. 
In ponds and swamps, South Carolina to Louisiana, 
Missouri and Texas. 
Family 27. BURMANNIACEAE Blume, Enum. Pl. Ene 8 Azo adsigton 
BURMANNIA FAMILY. 
Low annual herbs, with filiform stems and fibrous roots. Leaves basal or 
reduced to cauline scales or bracts. Flowers regular, perfect, the perianth with 
6 small thick lobes, its tube adnate to the ovary. Stamens 3 or 6, included, in- 
serted on the tube of the perianth; anthers 2-celled, the sacs transversely dehis- 
cent. Style slender; stigmas 3, dilated; ovary inferior, with 3 central or parietal 
placentae. Ovules numerous. Capsule many-seeded. Seeds minute, oblong; 
endosperm none. 
Ten genera and about 60 species, widely distributed in tropical regions. The family is repre- 
sented in North America by the following genus and Af/erza of the Gulf States. 
1. BURMANNIA L.. Spa bles yea. 
Erect herbs, with simple stems and small alternate scale-like or bract-like leaves. Tube 
of the perianth strongly 3-angled or 3-winged, the 3 outer lobes longer than the inner. Sta- 
mens 3, opposite the inner perianth-lobes. Filaments very short; connective of the anthers 
prolonged beyond the sacs into a 2-cleft crest. Ovary 3-celled, with 3 thick 2-lobed central 
placentae; stigmas globose or 2-lobed. Capsule crowned by the persistent perianth, open- 
ing by irregular lateral ruptures. [In honor of Johann Burmann, Dutch botanist of the 
eighteenth century. | 
About 20 species, natives of warm regions. Besides the following another occurs in the south- 
eastern States. 
*Text contributed by the late Rev. THOMAS MORONG. 
