ol. ALISMACEJ^:. 



0-2. IKIDACE.E. 



143 



taclied to the receptacle, anthers versatile, enclosed; 

 capsnle oblong ; seeds numerous with membranous wings. 



Roadsides near Black Hill; sandhills near Glenelg ; 

 spreading by suckers. — Sept. -Jan. — South Africa. 



Family 51.— ALISMACE/E. 



1. Alism.\, L. 



1. Alisma Plantag:o, L. 



Water Plantain. A rather tall, 

 erect perennial, with long- 

 stalked, oval-lanceolate radical 

 leaves; flowers small, in dis- 

 tant whorls and terminal umbels, 

 forming a loose pyramidal 

 panicle; 3 outer perianth .seg- 

 ments (sepals) herbaceovis, per- 

 sistant, 3 inner twice as long, 

 pale-pink, petaloid ; stamens 6 ; 

 carpels about 20, small, com- 

 pressed, 1 -seeded, seated in a 

 ring on the flat receptacle. 



Along the Onkaparinga River 

 and in the Reedbeds. — Jan.- 

 Mar. — Temperate regions of 

 the globe, including eastern 

 Australia. Perhaps introduced 

 recently, or may have been 

 overlooked ; not recorded bv 

 Tate in Fl. Extra-tiirp. ,S'..l. 



Alisma Plantago. 



Family 

 Perianth petaloid. 



IRIDACE>!E. 



with 6 divisions, the base of the 

 tube united with the ovary ; stamens 3, inserted in the 

 middle of the tube or at the base of and opposite to the 

 3 outer segments ; anthers opening outwards ; ovary in- 

 ferior ; style 1, with 3 simple or bifid branches; fruit cap- 

 sular, with 3 many-seeded cells, opening by 3 A^alves. 

 When all the anthers are arranged on one side of the style 

 in the open flower, the stamens are termed nnUateral ; 

 when surrounding the style they are equilateral. Peren- 

 nial herbs; leaves either radical, or arranged in 2 rows on 

 each side of the stem and overlapping at base (cquitant); 

 flowers either fairly permanent, sessile and solitary in a 

 spathe consisting of 2 bracts (valves), or quick-fading, 

 pedicellate, and several together in a spathe consisting of 

 1-2 outer, and as many inner valves as there are flowers ; 

 the inner spathe-valves are usually 2-nerved and 2-toothed. 



A. Flowers 1 in each spathe ; stamens long, 

 unilateral (except in Eomidea, Heaytr- 

 anfha, and Ixia). 



