138 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



The habit is tufted, the plant being succulent, 

 pale green, limp, branched, smooth — in water the 

 stems are longer and weak. The stem is short, 

 rigid, erect or more or less so. The leaves are 

 spoon-shaped, not free at the base, more or less 

 opposite. 



The flowers are minute, w^hite, drooping, then 

 erect, solitary, or in small racemes of 2-3 flowers, 

 in the axils of the upper leaves. The sepals are 

 blunt. The petals are only slightly longer than the 

 calyx. The capsule is small, globular, or inversely 

 ovoid, the valves rolled longitudinally inwards after 

 the seeds drop. The seeds are rather large, shining, 

 with numerous, conical, acute tubercles, arranged in 

 three lines following the curves of the seed, netted 

 to rough, dull black. 



The flowers are to be found between April and 

 August. The plant is a herbaceous annual. It is 

 from 1-3 in. in height. 



The flowers are very inconspicuous, and little likely 

 to be visited by insects, except creeping flies. The 

 anthers and stigma ripen at the same time. As a 

 rule, therefore, self-pollination occurs. In wet 

 weather, and in the aquatic form, the flowers are 

 cleistogamic. 



The capsule opens by three valves, the seeds lying 

 across the valves. The inner surfaces of the valves 

 contract when dry and the seeds are shot to a 

 distance. 



The leaves have been eaten as a salad. 



