Lemna. CXKXV. LEMNACEZ. 521 
3. ORONTIUM. 
The ancient Gr. name of a plant, so called from its growing by the Orontes, a tiver in Asia Minot. 
Spadix cylindric, covered with flowers; perianth 4—6-sepaled ; 
stamens 4—6; ovary free; stigma sessile; fruit a dry berry or utri- 
cle.—% acaulescent, aquatic. ls. yellow, at the swmmit of the scape. 
~ Spathe radical. 
; OQ. aquaticum. Golden Club. 
Lvs. ovate-lanceolate ; spike or spadix cylindric, on a clavate scape.—T his 
interesting plant is a native of inundated banks and pools, U.S., but not very 
common. The leaves are large Eso becoming 10—12’ long and 3—3 as 
wide), smooth, of a deep green, ve vet-like surface above, paler beneath, on 
long, radical petioles. Scape thick and terete, about a foot in length, closely 
invested by the short spathe at base, and ending in a spadix of a rich yellow 
color, covered with small, perfect, yellow flowers of an offensive odor,—the up- 
per ones often tetramerous. May. 
4. ACORUS. 
Gr. a, privative, and xopn, the pupil of the eye; supposed to cure maladies of the eye. 
Spadix cylindric, covered with flowers; perianth 6-sepaled ; ovary 
free; stigma sessile, minute; fruit dry, 3-celled, many-seeded.— 
U herbs, with a fleshy rhizoma. Laws. radical, ensiform. Scape foliaceous. 
A. catAmus. Sweet Flag. 
Summit of the scape above the spadix very long and leaf-like—Grows in 
wet soils throughout the U. States. The thick, prostrate, creeping rhizoma is 
highly valued for its aromatic flavor, its warm and pungent taste. The long, 
sword-shaped leaves are readily distinguished by the ridge running their 
whole length. The cylindrical spadix is about 3’ long and 3” diam., covered 
with small, green flowers, and bursting from the side of the leaf-like scape in 
June and July. 
5. SYMPLOCARPUS. Salish. 
Gr. cvptdoxn, connection, kagros, fruit. 
Spathe ventricose; spadix oval, covered with perfect flowers ; 
perianth deeply 4-parted, segments cucullate, cuneate, truncate, per- 
sistent, becoming thick and spongy; berries globose, 2-seeded, im- 
bedded in the spadix.— 2 Aquatic, acaulescent herbs. 
S. ra@ripus. Nutt. (Pothos foetida. Michz. Ictodes. Bw.) Skunk Cabbage. 
Laws. cordate-oval, acute ; spadiz subglobose, preceding the leaves.—A com- 
mon plant, Can., N. Eng., Mid. and W. States, growing in swamps, meadows 
and ditches, renowned for its odor, which is scarcely less offensive than that of 
the animal whose name it bears. Early in spring, the swelling spathe is seen 
emerging first from the ground or water, more or less covered with purplish 
spots, its edges partly infolded, and its point incurved. It encloses the spadix, 
which is oval, covered with flowers of a dull purple. The leaves, which arise 
after the flowers, are of a bright green, numerous, becoming very large (often 
20’ by 12’.) 
Orver CXXXV. LEMNACEA.—Ducxmears. 
Plants mostly floating, cellwar, annual, consisting of a frond (stem and leaf in one). 
Fis. bursting from the margin of the fronds, 2 or 3, achlamydeous, enclosed in a spathe. 
Sterile fls.—Sta. definite. often monadelphous. 
Fertile fls.—Ova. 1-celled, with 1 or more erect ovules, Sty.short. Szig. simple. 
Fr.—Utricle 1—several-seeded. Sds. with a fungous testa. 
Genera 6, species 26, widely diffused. They are almost entirely destitute of spiral vessels. Some ot 
them may be regarded as the simplest of Pheenogamous plants. 
LEMNA. 
Gr. Xenpa, a scale or husk ; ftom the resemblance of the frond. 
Sterile and fertile flowers in the same spathe, the former of 2 col- 
