ALISMACEAA—WATER PLANTAIN TRIBE 11 
smooth ; rootstock stout, creeping, perennial. This is one of the loveliest 
plants which grace the quiet waters of England south of Yorkshire and 
Durham, flowering when the water-lilies have withered. It is rare in 
Ireland, and in Scotland it occurs only as a naturalized plant. The 3-sided 
leaves are so sharp that they often wound the hand extended to gather the 
showy cluster of rose-coloured flowers. These, surrounded by their mem- 
branous involucre, stand far above the surface of the water, on a stalk two 
or three feet high. Anthers and ovaries are alike red. The leaves are one 
or two feet long, generally twisted at the upper end, and much shorter than 
the flower-stalk. They are very acrid, and have been used medicinally, both 
seeds and roots having been formerly considered as antidotes to the bite of 
venomous reptiles. The white tuberous rootstocks are said to be roasted 
and eaten in Northern Asia. The numerous flowers are each on a partial 
stalk, which is often three or four inches long; and they vary from a deli- 
cate pink to white, and are sometimes much tinged with purple, while the 
stalks are often reddish. Gerarde calls the plant the Water Gladiole, or 
Grassie Rush, and says, “It is, of all others, the fairest and most beautiful 
to behold, and serveth very well for the decking and trimming up of houses, 
because of the beautie and braverie thereof.” The French call the flower 
Butome, and the Germans, Blumenbinse. 
Order XCIIIL. ALISMACEZZ—WATER PLANTAIN TRIBE. 
Sepals 3, green; petals 3, coloured ; stamens varying in number ; ovaries 
superior, numerous ; carpels numerous, 1 or 2-seeded, not splitting when 
ripe. This is a small tribe of perennial aquatics, often floating, and with 
long stalked leaves rising from the root. The rootstocks of some species are 
used as food in various countries. 
1. Water PLANTAIN (Alisma).—Flowers containing both stamens and 
pistils ; stamens 6; carpels l-seeded. Name from alis, water, in Celtic. 
2. STAR-FRUIT (Actinocarpus).—Flowers containing pistils and stamens ; 
stamens 6; carpels 2-seeded, and arranged in a star-like form. Name from 
the Greek aktin, a ray, and karpos, a fruit. 
3. ARROW-HEAD (Sagittdria).—Stamens and pistils in separate flowers ; 
stamens numerous; carpels l-seeded. Name from the Latin sagitta, an 
arrow, from the shape of the leaves. 
1. WATER PLANTAIN (Alisma). 
1. Greater Water Plantain (4. plantdégo).—Leaves egg-shaped and 
heart-shaped, or lanceolate, all from the rootstock ; capsules bluntly trian- 
gular. The large bright green leaves of this plant, placed on thick stalks, 
and strongly nerved, much resemb!e those of the Common Plantain, and 
are more conspicuous above the water than the flowers, though those which 
are quite under the surface are of a «different form, being long and narrow. 
The flowers grow on a bluntly 3-sided stalk, which is two or three feet high, 
and much branched at the upper part. They expand during July and 
August, are small, of a delicate rc:e colour, and so frail that they are 
2—2 
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