108 VALLISNERIACEAE 
Gray regarded as a form of S. graminea. On sandy shores between high 
and low tide, Newburyport, Mass. 
8. §. teres, S. Watts. SLeNpER SaciTTartA. Leaves reduced to short 
rounded leaf stalks without blades or bracts. Flower stalk slender } to 
13 ft. high; few flowered. Ponds, Mass. and southward. 
9. §. subulata, (L.) Buchenare. Susputate SaciTrartaA. Leaves 
simply leaf stalks or with narrow lanceolate blades. Flower stalk very 
slender 1/6 to 4 ft. high. Bracts below flower whorls united to their 
extremities or nearly so. Conn., southward. 
Famity V.—VALLISNERIACEAE. Tapr-crass FAMILY 
Submersed aquatic herbs, with regular flowers which terminate 
a long thread-like peduncle, which arises from a spathe or in- 
volucre. Flowers tubular, 3- or 6-parted at summit. Pistillate 
and staminate flowers on the same or on different plants. Stamens 
3 to 12, separate or in union. Fruit ripening under water. 
1. VALLISNERIA, L. 
Submersed. Leaves long, grass-like with 5 parallel nerves including the 
marginal. Pistillate flowers white, with 3 lobes, on a long thread-like 
pedicel starting near the root and extending to the surface of the water 
when expanded. After fertilization the long pedicel becomes spiral and 
draws the flower below the surface. Fruit much elongated. Staminate 
flowers on short scape on a conic receptacle. 
V. spiralis, L. (Fig. 10, pl. 6.) Lake Grass. Erez Grass. In still 
waters throughout our region. 
2. ELODEA, Michx. (Philotria, Raf.) 
Submersed plant with many whorls of 3 or 4 short awl-shaped or 
elliptic leaves. Much branching. Flowers white, 6-parted at summit, on 
a long white thread-like pedicel (6 to 12 in.), which arises from a tubular 
“spathe” but little thicker than itself and which generally terminates a 
branch. The tiny white flower floats on the surface of the water, the 
remainder of the plant submersed. Staminate flowers without the long 
pedicel, breaking off and rising to surface of water to shed the pollen. 
E. canadensis, Michx. (Fig. 1, pl. 6.) DircH Moss. In quiet ponds 
and lakes, throughout our area. May-Aug. 
3. LIMNOBIUM, Richard. (Hydrocharis, Bosc.) 
Water herbs spreading by stolons with broad egg-shaped or _heart- 
shaped leaves which arise in fascicled groups at the stolon nodes. Flowers 
white on flower stalks shorter than the leaves. Pistillate and staminate 
flowers on same plant. Perianth 6 parted, segments unequal. Staminate 
flowers in a spathe, 2 to 4. Fruit berry-like. 
L. Spongia, (Bose.) Richard. Froa-pir. Leaves round or somewhat 
egg-shaped, 1 to 2 in. long, nearly or quite as wide, 5 to 7 nerved. Flowers 
and leaves arising from the nodes of the runners. In shallow still water, 
our area. July-Aug. 
