THE WATER-STAK FAMILY, 383 



or Ficus elastica, with noble oval leaves a foot in length ; the little 

 Ftcus repens, esteemed as a self-adhesive tapestry for walls, and per- 

 haps one or two others. 



CXXL— THE WATER-STAR FAMILY. Callitrichdcece. 



A family of half a dozen insignificant aquatics, with long and 

 slender stems, generally submerged in the water, but sometimes form- 

 ing dense green masses on the surface of mud. Leaves small, oval or 

 linear, entire, and undivided, the uppermost growing in compact 

 rosettes about an inch in diameter ; the rosettes from their number, 

 bright and lively green, and pretty star-like figure, presenting a con- 

 spicuous object as they lie floating in the ditches and ponds, which are 

 the common habitations of these little but abundant plants. The 

 flowers are exceedingly simple. The males grow in the axils of the 

 resetted leaves, and consist only of a stamen, the large yellow anther 

 contrasting strongly with the green of the foliage ; the females occupy 

 the lower axils, or where the leaves are some distance apart, and 

 consist of a green, two-lobed, and sessile ovary, with long green styles. 

 Neither male nor female flowers have any perianth, though usually 

 provided with a pair of opposite bracts. 



Four species have been described as wild in England, but it is 

 difficult to suppose that they are anything more than modifications of 

 a single one. The two principal forms both occur near Manchester. 



1. Leaves obovate or oblong. Female flower with two bracts at the \ Vernal 



base I Water-stae. 



2. Leaves all linear. Female flower destitute of bracts { Autumnal 



[ Water-stae. 



HABITATS AND LOCALITIES. 

 L Vernal Water-star — {Callltriche verna.) 

 Ditches and shallow waters, everywhere. Fl. end of May and 

 onwards. Annual. 



Curtis, iii. 54; E. B. xi. 722 (both as Callltrlche aquatica) ; Baxter, v. 392. 



2. Autumnal Water-star — {Calliiriche autumndlis.) 

 Similar situations. Fl. summer. Annual. 



E. B., Supp. i. 2732, with beautiful dissections. (The " C. autumnalis" of 

 E. B , Supp. i. 2606, is the plant called in Floras " pedunculata.") 



