Lepilena. | NAIADACEZ. 753 
Leaf-sheaths narrow. Anthers 3, connate into a column. 
Stigma oblong-clavate se ae OE as 
Leaf-sheaths broad. Anthers 2 (or 1?). Stigma very 
large, flat, deeply fimbriate .. O3 i ad 
1. L. Preissii. 
2. L. bilocularis. 
1. L. Preissii, /. Muell. Fragm. Phyt. Austral. viii. 217.— 
Stems 6-18in. long, very slender, filiform, branched, often form- 
ing dense masses. Leaves filiform or almost capillary ; sheath- 
ing bases very narrow. Flowers dicecious; males solitary within 
the leaf-sheaths, shortly pedicelled. Perianth minute, cupular. 
Anthers 3, sessile within the perianth, connate by their backs into 
a columnar mass, each one 2-celled, cells dehiscing longitudinally. 
Female flowers solitary, shortly pedicelled. Perianth of 3 distinct 
segments, rather longer than the carpels. Carpels 3, narrowed 
into a rather long style; stigma oblong-clavate. Ripe carpels 
cylindrical, sessile or nearly so, about 4in. long.— Benth. Fil. 
Austral. vii. 180; Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. x. (1878) App. xl., 
and xxviii. (1896) 499. Zannichellia Preiss, Lehm. in Plant. 
Pretss. ii. 3. 
NortruH Isuanp: Auckland—Waikato River, near Churchill, Kirk. 
I have seen no New Zealand specimens of this, but according to Mr. Kirk 
examples collected by him in the locality quoted above were submitted to the 
late Baron Mueller and by him identified with the Australian L. Preissii. 
It greatly resembles Zannichellia palustris, and in the absence of male flowers 
may have been mistaken for it. 
9. L. bilocularis, 7. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 500. 
—Stems filiform, much branched, 3-12in. long. Leaves very 
narrow-linear or filiform, flat, l-nerved, obtuse ; base broad, ex- 
panded into a membranous sheath. Flowers very minute, solitary, 
dicecious, concealed in the leaf-sheaths. In the male plant the 
sheathing bases of the floral leaves are broad and much expanded, 
and conspicuously 2-lobed at the tip. Flowers very shortly pedi- 
celled. Perianth of 3 most minute hyaline scales. Anthers appa- 
rently 2, cohering by their backs and resembling a single anther, 
each 2-celled, longitudinally dehiscent, connective produced. Floral 
leaves subtending the female flowers with narrower sheaths ; 
flowers sessile or very shortly pedicelled. Perianth-segments 3, 
oblong, entire or 2-lobed, almost as long as the styles. Carpels 3, 
sessile; styles slender; stigmas very large and broad, deeply fim- 
briate or laciniate. Ripe carpels about ;. in. long, slightly oblique, 
turgid, rounded on the back; style almost as long as the carpel. 
SoutH Istanp: Canterbury—Streams flowing into the Selwyn River; near 
the outlet of Lake Ellesmere, Kirk ! Otago—Lake Waihola, Waikouaiti, 
Taieri Plain, Petrie ! 
A very curious little plant. Mr. Kirk describes the anthers as solitary; but 
in Mr. Petrie’s Lake Waihola specimens, which are the only males that I have 
seen, I make the anthers to be 2, placed back to back, but closely resembling a 
single 4-celled anther. At the same time it is not easy to satisfy one’s-self as to 
the structure of the anther from an examination of dried specimens. 
