UMBELLIFERiE. 89 



G^^iV^ro J— HYDROCOTYLE. Linn. 



Calyx-limb obsolete. Petals ovate-lanceolate, entire, acute, 

 generally hooded but not inflexed at the apex. Cremocarp late- 

 rally compressed, sub-didymous ; mericarps without vitta3, with 5 

 filiform ridges, of which the intermediate ones are the most pro- 

 minent, the lateral ones often and the keel sometimes obsolete. 



Herbs, often aquatic, with the leaves simple, roundish, fre- 

 quently peltate. Umbels irregular, few-flowered, or the flowers 

 in whorls.* 



The name of this genus is derived from two Greek words, vlwp (hudor), water, and 

 icoTvXr] (kotule), a cavity, in reference to the hollow cup-like form of the leaves, which 

 hold moisture, and the situations in which it delights to gi'ow. 



SPECIES I.—HYDROCOTYLE VULGARIS. Linn. 



Plate DLXVI. 



Rekh. Ic. n. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XXI. Tab. 1842. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 2853. 



Stem creeping, rooting at the nodes. Leaves stalked, sub- 

 orbicular, peltate, crenate. Peduncles springing from the nodes 

 of the stem, terminating in a simple head-like umbel of 3 to 6 

 flowers, generally with 1 or 2 (rarely 3) whorls of flowers beneath 

 it. Pruit emarginate or sub-cordate at the base, concolorous. Plant 

 glabrous, with the petioles pilose at the apex. 



In marshes, bogs, and by the sides of ditches. Common, and 

 generally distributed. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer. 



Stem whitish, creeping, often wholly or partially buried in the 

 earth ; sometimes floating in water, when it grows to a great 

 length, with distant nodes, from which are produced tufts of root- 

 fibres and 1 or 2 leaves. Leaves on stalks 1 to 10 inches long ; 

 lamina ^ to 2 or more inches in diameter, with the stalk coming 

 from nearly the centre, and with 7 to 9 radiating straight veins, 

 each vein the centre of a large blunt crenature, which is sometimes 

 again more faintly crenated. Peduncles shorter than the leaves. 

 Plowers nearly sessile, about -rr inch across, greenish- white tinged 



* Dr. Berthold Seemann places Hydrocotyle among the Hederacese, on account 

 of the petals being valvate ; and had this been the only transposition of the genera of 

 Umbelliferae under Aralliaceas, it might readily have been accepted. 

 VOL. IV. N 



