78 BRITISH BOTANY. 



whorled stipulate leaves and axillary flowers. Sepals 3-4^ united 

 at their base. Petals 3-4, caducous. Stamens as many as tlie 

 petals or twice as many, with two-lobed introrse anthers. Ovary 

 consisting of 3-4 carpels, with the ovules on the inner angles of 

 the cells. Styles short. Stigmas capitate. Fruit capsular, 3-4- 

 celled. Seeds cylindrical, straight or curved, without albumen. 

 Embryo shaped like the seeds (as there is no albumen). Eadicle 

 directed towards the hilum. 



Elatine, L. — Aquatic or palustral, animal or perennial plants, 

 with creeping or rooting or with prostrate or partly erect stems, 

 and linear or lanceolate or spathulate leaves. Flowers very small, 

 axillary. Sepals and petals 3-4. Stamens 3-8. Styles 3-4. 

 Capsule rounded, depressed, 3-4-lobed, and 3-4-celled. Seeds 

 cylindrical, more or less curved. 



E. hexandra, DC. — E. tripetala, Sm. — E. paludosa, Seub. 

 Small Waterwort. — e.b. 955. l.b.s. 143. Reich. 599. 



A. 10. C. 15. Lat. 50-58°. Alt. 0-100 yds. Tern. 52-46°. 



Stems numerous, slender, prostrate or erect above, sometimes 

 swimming, usually forming tufts, mostly under water, 2-4 inches 

 long. Leaves opposite, spathulate, blunt, attenuated into the 

 verij short footstalks (the petiole is shorter than the limb) . Petals 

 three. Stamens six (usually) . Seeds only slightly curved. 



There is a variety, viz. /3. octandra, with four sepals, four pe- 

 tals, eight stamens, and a four-valved capsule. 



Sandy margins of ponds, etc. Uncommon. Annual? July- 

 September. 



S. Hydropiper, L. Rooting Waterwort. — e.b.s. 2670. l.b.s. 

 144. 



A. 3. C. 3. Lat. 51-54°. Alt. 0-50 yds. Tern. 49-48°. 



Stems prostrate, rooting. Leaves opposite, shorter than their 

 footstalks, broader than in E. hexandra. Flowers sessile or 

 stalked. Sepals and petals four respectively. Stamens eight. 

 Capsule four-valved. Seeds bent like a horseshoe. / 



In ponds with the former. Cutmill Ponds,' near Frensham, 

 Surrey, and in a mill-pond near Churchill rail way- station, about 

 midway between Hagley and Kidderminster. Noticed in Sep- 

 tember, 1855, by Mr. Irvine. 



This plant has creeping roots or rooting stems, yet it is by all 

 Botanists described as of annual duration. Does it flower twice 

 or in two successive years from the same root ? 



