CXXIII. HYDllOCHAMTACE.Ti:, 6G9 



2. LAGAROSIPHON, Harv. 



Submerged fresh-water herbs. Leaves scattered, fasciculate or sub- 

 vertieillate, serrulate, tlie lower sometimes opposite. Plowers dioecious; 

 the males minute, mauy, in au ovoid 2-fid axillary sessile spathe, the 

 females solitary, sessile in a narrovv oblong spathe. Sepals 3, petaloid. 

 Petals rather shorter than or as long as the sepals. Mai.e tlowebs : 

 Stamens 2 or L5 ; tilaments short ; anthers ovate ; staminodes often 2-3. 

 Pistillode 0. Female flowers : Staminodes 0. Ovary oblong, pro- 

 duced into a filiform beak ; ovules many, orthotropous ; styles 3, stout, 

 notched. Fruit ovoid, oblong or linear ; ]iericarp membranous. Seeds 

 numerous; testa with a mucous coat. — Distkib. India, Africa, Mada- 

 gascar ; species 9 or 10. 



1. Lagarosiphon Roxburghii, Benth. in Gen. PL v. 3, part 2 

 (1883) p. -152. Stem 2-3 ft. long, filiform ; roots fibrous ; upper 

 branches floating. Leaves 3-4 by j in., alternate and opposite, sessile, 

 oblong-lanceolate, acute, minutely serrulate. Male eloavees : Spathe 

 ovoid, at length 2-Yalved, enclosing many minute, shortly pedicellate 

 flowers. Sepals broadly oblong, pink. Petals as long as the sepals or 

 nearly so, white. Stamens 2 ; anthers dehiscing transversely. Female 

 TLOWEES : Spathe ^ in. long, tubular, 2-fid. Ovary lanceolate, produced 

 into a filiform fiexuous beak 2-3 in. long, Fl. B. I. v. 5, p. 659 ; Trim. 

 FL Ceyl. v. 4, p. 124 ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 12 (1899) 

 p. 517 ; Prain, Beng. PL p. 995. Nechamandra Roxlmryhii, Planch, in 

 Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 3, v. 11 (1849) p. 78 (exclud. syn. Eoxb. Cor. PI.); 

 Dalz. & Gibs. p. 277. Valisnena cdternifoUa, Poxb. llort. Beng. (1814) 

 p. 71 ; Fl. Lid. v. 3, p. 750 ; Wight, in Hook. Bot. Misc. \ . 2, p. 344, 

 Suppl. t. 11 ; Grab. Cat. p. 199. — Flowers : Aug.-Feb. 



Tolerably common in tanks tbrougliout the Presidency. — DiSTiiiB. Throughout 

 'India ; Ce3lon, Tropical Asia. 



3. VALLISNERIA, Linn. 



A submerged tufted stemless stoloniferous herb. Leaves veiy long, 

 linear. Flowers dioecious, the males many, minute, in an ovoid 3-lobed, 

 shortly pedunculate spathe, the females solitai-y in a tubular 3-toothed 

 spathe terminal on a very long filiform spiral scape. Sepals 3. Petals 0. 

 Male flowees : Stamens 1-3 ; filaments rather thick ; anthers 

 didymous. Pistillode 0. Female flowees : Staminodes 3, each 2-ficl. 

 Ovary narrow, not produced upwards; ovules numerous; stigmas 3, 

 broad, notched. Fruit linear, included in the spathe. Seeds numerous, 

 oblong; testa membranous. — Disteib. Species about 4, in the warmer 

 regions of both hemispheres. 



1. Vallisneria spiralis, Linn. S}). PI. (1753) p. 1015. Leaves 

 radical, narrow, linear, varying in length with the depth of the water, 

 reaching sometimes 15 by ^ in., green, translucent, entire or the tips 

 serrulate. Male flowees numerous, minute. Spathe shortly pedun- 

 culate, ^ in. long, breaking off at the base when the flowers emerge and 

 float on the surface of the water. Pedicels long, slender. Stamens 1-3. 

 Female flowees solitary. Spathe 3-toothed, carried to the surface of 

 the water in flower by the uncoiling of the long filiform spiral scape, 



