Ottelta.'] Hydrockaridecs. 125 



B. zeylanica, Hk. f. in Fl. B. Ind. v. 661 (1888). Dlya- 

 liawari, S. 



Vallisneria octandra (?), Moon, Cat. 67. B. octandra, Planch, in Thw. 

 Enum. 332. C. P. 237. 



Fl. B. Ind. V. 661 {ceylanicd). 



Stems tufted on a short rootstock, very short; 1. \-2 ft. 

 by \ in. broad, flaccid, narrowed from the base to the acumi- 

 nate tip, midrib and 2-3 pairs of veins very slender; fl. 

 bisexual; ped. 1-2 ft., spathe 1-3 in.; ov. as long as the spathe, 

 tip exserted, produced into a filiform beak 1-2 in. long sup- 

 porting the perianth; sep. narrowly linear, obtuse, spreading, 

 green ; pet. as long or longer, acuminate with capillary tips ; 

 anth. narrowly linear, as long as the fil. ; fr. 1-2 in., very 

 narrow, crowned with the filiform top of the ov. ; seeds many, 

 testa rugulose or sparingly subspinulose, apiculate at both 

 ends. 



In still water in the low country below 1000 ft.; common. Fl. Oct.- 

 Dec; white. 



Endemic (.''). 



' Distinguished from the common Indian B. Roxburghii by its 

 (.? always) hermaphrodite flowers with 3 stamens, in which it resembles 

 B. oryzetorum of India. The peds. are often in deep water of an 

 immense length. We have, perhaps, 2 species in Ceylon.' 



The description of the flowers is chiefly from a drawing of the fresh 

 plant in the Peradeniya collection. The male fl. escape from the spathe 

 and float about, supported on the water upon the tips of the reflexed 

 perianth-segments. — J. D. H. 



4. OTTEXiIA, Pers. 

 Submerged fresh-water herbs ; stem very short, roots 

 fibrous ; 1. of two forms, narrow submerged, and broader 

 long-petioled floating ; fl. bisexual, solitary, sessile in a 

 peduncled tubular 2-fid spathe ; sep. 3 ; pet. larger, with 

 short fleshy processes at their bases; stam. 6-15, anth. linear; 

 ■ov. oblong, beaked, i -celled, styles 6-12, linear, 2-fid, ovules 

 many, parietal, and covering 6-12 intruded placentas ; fr. 

 enclosed in the ventricose winged spathe, oblong, beaked, 

 beak crowned with the persistent perianth, fleshy, 6-valved ; 

 seeds many, minute, testa soft. — Sp. 6 or 7 ; i in Fl. B. Ind. 



O. alismoides, Pers. Syn. PL i. 400 (1805). 



Fl. Zeyl. n. 223. Stratiotcs alisinoides^ L. Sp. PL 535. Damasoniiim 

 mdicuin,\V\\\d., Moon, Cat. 30. C. P. 2316. 



Fl. B. Ind. V. 662. Roxb. Cor. PI. ii. t. 185 {D. indiciim). Bot. Mag. 

 t. 1201. 



A succulent flaccid herb; 1. from 2-6 by 1-3 in., orbicular, 

 to oblong-cordate, and 7 in. diam., membranous, undulate. 



