Thaiassia:] HydrochaHdece. 1 2 7 



ov. flagon-shaped, long-beaked, compressed, i -celled, with 6 

 papillose ridges, stigmas 12, linear, papillose, ovules i -seriate 

 on 6 parietal placentas; fr. ovoid, spongy, strigose, bursting 

 irregularly, imperfectly 6-celled ; seeds large, angular, testa 

 cellular, radicle large, cotyledons subconic, plumule many- 

 leaved. 



In salt-water shallows of 2 or 3 ft. in the dry region ; rare. About 

 Jaffna, abundant ; Kalpitiya on W. Coast. Fl. Sept. 



S. India, Malaya, Australia. 



This plant is also very abundant in the shallow parts of the Pamban 

 Channel between the mainland of India and Rameswaram I., just out of 

 our boundaries. Kcenig first collected this, ' inter insulas Zeylanicas.' 



The leaves grow straight upwards to the surface of the water, and 

 are usually somewhat twisted together spirally. The fruit scape is very 

 much longer than the leaves, and the fruit lies floating on the water. 



6. THAZiASSIA, Solmid. 

 Submerged, marine, perennial herbs ; rootstock creeping, 

 annulate ; 1. in pairs or threes at the nodes of the rootstock, 

 arising from the axil of a membranous sheath, linear, coria- 

 ceous ; fl. monoecious, solitary, in a 2-valved spathe ; male fl. 

 with the valves of the spathe connate at the base ; sep. 3, 

 petaloid ; pet. o ; stam. 6, fil. very short, anth. linear, erect, 

 2-celled, dehiscence lateral ; pistillode o ; fem. fl. in a caducous 

 spathe, at length pedicelled ; ov. i -celled, ovules many, on 

 parietal placentas ; fr. stipitate, globose, beaked by the style, 

 smooth rugose or echinate with soft spines, coriaceous, 6- 

 valved, valves persistent, stellately spreading, laciniate ; seeds 

 many, small, imbedded in mucilage, embryo macropodous. — 

 Sp. 3 or 4 ; I in FL B. Ind. 



T. Kemprichii, Aschers. in Natm-f. Fr. Berl. 83 (1870). 

 Chatelai, T. 



Trim. Syst. Cat. Ceyl. 86 (excl. syn. from Thw. Enum.). 

 Fl. B. Ind. vi. 570 (name only). Hempr. and Ehrenb. Symb. Phys. Bot. 

 t. XX. (cop. in Engl. Nat. Pflanzen, fam. ii. f. 188). 



Rootstock as thick as a duck's quill, internodes 1-3 in.; 

 root fibres densely woolly with matted root-hairs ; young 

 shoots clothed with hyaline sheaths ; 1. 8-12 by \ in., linear, 

 falcate, spreading, tip rounded, margins smooth, io-i2-veined ; 

 male fl. : — pet. i in. long, oblong, tip rounded ; anth. stout, 

 linear, apiculate ; fr. softly echinulate. 



In sea-water shallows of 1-2 ft.; rare. Jaffna, abundant; Dondra 

 Head, S. Prov. ; Weligama Bay (?). Fl. Dec, Feb. 



Also on coasts of Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Malay and Pacific Islands, 

 The falcate leaves spread stiffly over the sandy bottom, never standing 



