116 PONTEDERIACEAE 
at the nodes. Leaves lance-shaped or oval lance-shaped, 4+ to } in. wide, 
their sheathing bases not fringed with hairs or very slightly ciliate, and 
of the color of the leaf or with whitish veins; the margins of the spathe 
not united. In moist places, southern part of our area. 
2. C. hirtella, Vahl. (Fig. 4, pl. 8.) Brarpep Day FrLower. Simi- 
lar to No. 1, leaves broader and sheaths bearded on the edges with a fringe 
of rather stiff hairs. Penna. and southward. 
3. C. virginica, L. (Fig. 3, pl. 8.) Vircinta Day Fiower. A larger 
species, 14 to 3 ft. high and with flowers 1 in. broad. N. Y. and southward. 
2. TRADESCANTIA, L. 
Branching herbs with long, narrow leaves, almost grass-like, and regular 
flowers. Petals blue, 3 in number; sepals 3, stamens 6, all alike. The 
loose cluster of a few flowers is subtended by long leafy bracts. 
1. T. virginiana, L. (Fig. 5, pl. 8.) Sprperwort. Stem and leaves 
smooth, light green, stem 4 to 3 ft. tall. Leaves linear, channeled. Woods 
and thickets. Conn., and southward. 
2. T. pilosa, Lehm. ZiczAc Sprperwort. Resembles No. 1, but the 
whole plant is more or less hairy. Stem zigzag. Southern Penna. and 
southward. June-Aug. 
Famity IV.—PONTEDERIACEAE. PIcKEREL-WEED FAMILY 
Aquatic plants, herbs with flower-stem bearing clusters of blue 
irregular flowers subtended by a leaf-like spathe. Leaves broad 
or linear. Flowers of 6 unequal petals, with 3 or 6 stamens in- 
serted in the tube of the corolla. Pistil 1, the head being 3-lobed. 
Many flowers forming a nearly cylindric spike . . Pontederia 
A few flowers in a loose cluster subtended by a spathe Heteranthera 
1. PONTEDERIA, L. 
Perianth tubular with 2 lips of 3 divisions each, the lower lip more 
spreading than the upper. Leaves thick, heart-shaped. Flower stalk 
stout. 
P. cordata,L. (Fig. 10, pl. 9.) PrcKxeren Weep. Leaves _heart- 
arrow-shaped. Flower spike densely flowered, forming a cylindric spike 
from 1 to 3 in. long. Found in shallow borders of ponds and streams 
where the thick creeping rootstalks form a net-work in the muddy bot- 
tom. July-Aug. 
2. HETERANTHERA, R. & P. 
Perianth spreading with 6 nearly equal segments. Flower clusters with 
few flowers, subtended by a spathe. Stamens 3, inserted in the throat 
of the perianth. Creeping and floating herbs with various forms of leaves, 
