284 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



anth is slender, long, and brings the flowers up to 

 the surface. The flowers are placed in a two-lobed 

 spathe, and there are three to six boat-shaped 

 segments which are spreading, and three staminodes. 

 The anther-stalks are three, awl-like, without 

 anthers. The inner segments are bent back. The 

 stigmas are long, round, fringed, notched, bent back. 

 The style adheres to the tube. When fruit is 

 produced the berry is oblong, one-celled, with few 

 seeds. 



A floating plant it grows to a length of i to 4 ft., 

 and flowers from July to October, being a herbaceous 

 perennial. In the axils of the leaves are squamulae, 

 but no true winter buds are formed. Babington 

 writes of this plant, " Our plant is undoubtedly 

 perennial. In a growing plant now (December 22nd, 

 1847) before me, the old stem is losing its leaves, 

 which have nearly all decayed and fallen off, and 

 appears to be itself on the point of death, but several 

 clusters of young shoots have sprung from it, at the 

 base of which roots are produced. In the spring, 

 each of these clusters will probably appear to be an 

 independent young plant. This may account for 

 the supposed annual duration of some of the 

 species." 



As the female flowers in Britain are the only ones 

 produced, save in rare instances pollination does not 

 occur and the plant is propagated vegetatively. For 

 the same reason the fruit does not occur. The plant 

 is tricecious. 



