Monocnorra.]  PONTEDERIACE. 269 
and subspicately short-pedicelled ; spathe complicate below the 
raceme. Perianth campanulate, tube none; lobes 6, distinct, 
sub-equal. Stamens 6, adnate to the base of the perianth-lobes or 
hypogynous, one normally larger than the others and with its fila- 
ment toothed on one side ; anthers basifixed, dehiscing by a ter- 
tninal ultimately elongated slit. Ovary ovoid, sessile, 3-celled, with 
many ovules in each cell, style filiform, stigma minutely 3-lobed. 
Fruit an oblong membranous loculicidal capsule. Seeds many, 
ovoid, obtuse, many-ribbed, embryo cylindric in the centre of 
floury albumen.—Species about 6, in the tropics of the Old 
World. 
Rootstock elongate, creeping ; leaves hastate, 
sagittate or cordate ; flowers on long stalks, 
subumbellate or racemose; inflorescence 
centrifugal , , J 7 : . Ll. M. hastefolia, 
Rootstock short, suberect; flowers on short 
stalks subspicate; inflorescence  centri- 
petal :— 
Leaves ovate or ovate-cordate; flowers / 
rather numerous . ; 7. , . 2. M. vaginalis. 
Leaves linear or narrowly ovate; flowers 
few. : ; ; : A . M. vaginalis, var. 
plantaginea. 
1.M. hastefolia, Presi. Relig. Hoenk. i, 128; F. B. I. vi, 
362 ; Prain Beng. Pl. 1079 ; Cooke Fl. Bomb. ii, 777. Pontederia 
hastata, Linn. ; Roxb. ; Fl. Ind. ti, 121. P. sagitata, Roxb. 1. c. 
724. P. dilatata, Andr. ; Roxb. l. c. 123. Vern. Laukia. 
Rooistock stout, creeping and rooting below, spongy, clothed with the 
remains of the old leaf-sheaths. Leaves 4-8 in. long, sagittate, hastate 
or cordate, smooth and glossy, many-nerved ; petioles of floral leaves 
tumid above and embracing the short stout peduncle; petioles of 
radical leaves 14-2 ft. long with a broad sheathing base. In/flores- 
cence centrifugal. Flowers in racemes or subumbellate, crowded, 
bright purplish-blue ; pedicels up to 1 in. long. Perianth-segments 
§ in. long, becoming twisted round the fruit when withering; the 3 
inner ones obovate and wider than the 3 oblong outer ones, all with 3 
strong parallel median nerves and reticulately veined between them 
and towards the margins. Filament of large anther } in. long, with 
an acute horn at one side; anthers linear-oblong, the large one 
