Potamogetoni\ NaiaaeCE. T^'] -^ 



thickening upwards; spike solitary, 3-5 in. long, rhachis stout, 

 elongating in fr. ; perianth-segm. 2, ^ in. long, obovate- 

 spathulate, much longer than the stam., white, caducous; stam. 

 6, fil. spreading, persistent, anth. oblong; carpels 3, minute, 

 narrowed into a very short style, follicles \-\ in. long, 1-2- 

 seeded, oblong, beaked, smooth ; seed smooth. 



In running water up to 6500 ft.; common. Fl. Feb. and May; white. 

 Also in India and Australia. 



Thunberg's specimens were from Ceylon. Extraordinarily variable 

 in foliage, as with many aquatics. Tubers eaten in famine times. 



2. POTAMOGETON, Linn. 



Submerged brackish- and fresh-water plant, rootstock 



creeping ; stem branched, leafy, upper branches floating, or 



all submerged ; 1. broad or narrow, stipules intrafoliaceous ; 



fl. small, spicate on short or long, axillary or leaf-opposed 



scapes arising from a sheath ; spike solitary, ebracteate ; 



fl. small, bisexual, sep. 4, concave, green, valvate in bud ; 



anth. 4, sessile on the bases of the sep., didymous, slits 



introrse; carpels 4, free, sessile, i-ovuled, stigma subsessile or 



decurrent, ovule inserted in the inner angles, capylotropous ; 



drupelets small, epicarp coriaceous or spongy, endocarp hard ; 



seed subreniform, embryo macropodal. — Sp.about 80 ; 10 in 



FL B. Ind. 



L. oval or oblong i, P. INDICUS. 



L. filiform 2. P. PECTINATUS. 



I. P. indicus, Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 452 (1832). 



P. lateralis., Moon, Cat. 12. P. nutans., Thw. Enum. 333 (non L.). 

 C. P. 590. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 565. 



Stem slender, and branches terete, long or short, according 

 to the depth of water; 1. petioled, upper floating, 3-42 by 

 i-2| in., alt. or uppermost opp., oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 

 acute, obtuse or acuminate, thinly coriaceous, opaque, glossy, 

 many-veined, base acute or rounded, petiole shorter than the 

 blade, submerged 1. up to 8 in., linear, membranous, undu- 

 late, stip. \\ in., fully as long as the 1. or shorter, bifid ; scape 

 1-2 in., stout or slender, cylindric, not thickened upwards ; 

 spike 1 1 in., dense-fld., green ; sep. shortly clawed, very convex ; 

 drupelets small, smooth, obliquely truncate, shortly beaked 

 when dry. 



Ponds, &c., in low country ; rather rare. Peradeniya ; Ambagamuwa ; 

 Colombo Lake. Fl. Feb.-April ; green. 



Throughout India, Burma, and Malay Islands. 

 Moon has ' Mal-kekatiya ' as S. name. 



