458 Rydberg : Notes on Philotria Raf. 



Michx. as a synonym but described the plant as dioecious, the 

 staminate flowers with nine stamens in two series, the inner of 

 which has three stamens, and the pistillate flowers with three sterile 

 filaments and three ligulate bifid stigmas. He added further 

 " flowers very small and evanescent, the female emerging ; the male 

 migratory, breaking off connection usually with the parent plant, 

 it instantly expands to the light, the anthers also burst with elasticit 

 and the granular pollen vaguely floats upon the surface of the 

 water." He described the leaves as oblong-linear, minutely ser- 

 rulate, and partly obtuse. 



Torrey* described Udora as being polygamous. "Sterile 

 fl[o\vers]. Stamens 9 : anthers oval, nearly sessile. Perfect 

 fl [owers] . Tube of the perianth produced above the ovary into a 

 very long slender tube. Stamens 3-6 : filaments short, subulate 

 anthers oblong, innate ; the cells parallel, distinct . . . stigmas 

 large, spreading, oblong-cuneiform, 2-lobed." He described the 

 leaves as varying from oblong-ovate to lanceolate-linear. 



How are these conflicting descriptions to be reconciled ? Have 

 some of the authors mentioned been mistaken ? Are there more 

 than one species confused or is Philotria canadensis (Michx.) Bn 

 ton such a variable plant both as to flowers and leaves ? If nioi 

 than one species, are they all polygamo-dioecious with three kinc 

 of flowers : staminate with very short calyx-tube and 9 stamei 

 pistillate with long tube and no stamens or merely rudimentary 

 filaments; and hermaphrodite flowers with long tube and 3 

 stamens ? These are questions to be answered and botanists » ° 

 have a chance to study the plants in the field will be well paid 

 investigating these interesting water-weeds. The writer vou. 

 also be very thankful for material. 



Let us see what is the present knowledge of the genus, 

 us take up the different species proposed and the different descnp 

 tions, in the order they appear. 



Let 



Mich 



1803. 



■with 3 



This was described as having hermaphrodite flowers w 

 stamens and bifid stigmas, and oblong, obtuse leaves. I s ^ 

 such a plant ? Caspary, who saw the original Michauxian rnatc^ 

 at Paris, stated that the two flowers found there were hennapnr^ 



Fl. N. Y. a : 264. 1843. 





