518 LIX. OXAGKACEJE. 



DiSTRiB. Central aud Southern Euro])e, Tropical Asia and Africa ; 

 species 2-3. 



1. Trapa bispinosa, Bo.ch. Hort. Beng. (1814) p. 11. Stems 

 flexuose, often several feet long, ascending in tlie water, the submerged 

 parts furnished with numerous opposite pairs of green root-like spreading 

 pectinate organs (? floating roots), arising immediately belowthepositioa of 

 the stipules of fallen leaves and reaching sometimes 2| in. long. Leaves 

 alternate, crowded on the upper part of the stem, the blade as broad as, 

 or more commonly broader than long, l|-2 by Ig-S^ in., rhomboid with 

 a triangular apex, somewhat truncate and entire at the base, irregularly 

 inciso-serrate in the upper part, dark-green mottled with brown, glabrous 

 and shining above, reddish-purple and densely pubescent beneath; 

 petioles terete, at first short, but ultimately reaching as much as 5 in. in 

 length, the upper part hairy, the lower glabrous, dilated near the apex 

 into a large fusiform spongy float ; stipules linear-lanceolate, acute, 

 membranous, caducous. Flowers few, axillary, solitary ; pedicels short, 

 stout, hairy, incurved during flowering, afterwards bending down 

 beneath the water in which the fruit ripens. Calyx pubescent ; lobes 4, 

 lanceolate, acute, of which 2 are persistent, becoming spines on the 

 fruit. Petals 4, obovate, about twice as long as the calyx-lobes, crenulate 

 on the margins, pure white. Fruit obovoid, angular, |-1 in. long and 

 broad, with a short conical beak in the centre at the apex and a spreading 

 flattened very sharp spinous horn at either side ; radicle beneath the 

 central beak, from which it protrudes in germination. Fl. B. I. v. 2, 

 p. 590 ; Grab. Cat. p. 75 ; Dalz. & Gibs. p. 99 ; Eoxb. Cor. PI. v. 3 

 (1819) p. 29, t. 234 ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 2, p. 2.35; Woodr. in Journ. 

 Bomb. Nat. v. 11 (1898) p. 639 ; Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 6, part 4, 

 p. 73. — Flowers : Feb.-Mar. Veen. Shingddd. 



In tanks throughout tbe Presidency, often cultivated ; very abundant in tanks in 

 Gujarat. The fruit is eaten by the natives and is much esteemed. It is known to 

 Anglo-Indians as the water-chestnut. — Distrib. Throughout India ; Ceylon, Malaya, 

 Tropical Africa. 



Note. — Considerable diversity of opinion exists as to the exact function of the 

 " pectinate organs." Roxburgh {I. c.) considered them to he a second pair of stipules 

 belovF the true ones, and gives an excellent figure. In the ' Genera Plantarum ' (Benth. & 

 Hook.) and in Hook. f. ' Flora of Britisli India ' they are called submerged leaves. 

 Barneoud (Mem. dii Trapa natans, Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 3, v. 9 [1848] p. 222) terms thera 

 adventitious floating roots. There is a good figure of Trapa nafatis in Engl. & Prantl, 

 Pflanzenf. v. 3, part 7, p. 224, fig. 97, wliich shews tliese organs in their natural position 

 in the water. They do not reach the bottom, but remain suspended in the liquid. 



Fachs'uts of several kinds are grown on the hills and are common in 

 every garden at Mahableshwar, where they thrive very well. They do 

 not, however, stand the climate of the Deccan plains. I have taken down 

 large established plants in pots from IMahableshwar to Poona which all 

 died after the second year. At an altitude of 4000 ft. and upwards 

 they grow and flower freely. 



(Enothera rosea, [Soland in] Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. 1, v. 2 (1789) p. 3. 

 A small plant, a native of Mexico, is grown in gardens, especially on the 

 hills, and thrives well at Mahableshwar. It is about 1 ft. high and has 

 pink flowers with obovate petals. Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Xat. v. 11 

 (1898) p. 639, & Gard. in Ind. ed. 5, p. 322. 



