PISTIACE.E. 383 



large, with thick fibres. Leaves very large, cordate-ovate, 

 smooth. Sgathe ovate, cucullate, purple, spotted with green 

 and yellow. ' Spadix peduncled. Whole plant very fetid. Me- 

 dicinal. Big. Mod. Bot. ii. 41. Skunk Cabbage. 



ORDER CXXXVI. PISTIACE^. Rich. Lind. 



Flowers 2, naked, enclosed in a spathe. Stamens definite, 

 2 7. Ovary 1-celled, with one or more erect ovules ; style 

 short ; stigma simple. Fruit membranous or capsular, not 

 opening. Seeds I or more, with a fungous integument and a 

 thickened indurated foramen ; embryo either in the axis of 

 fleshy albumen and having a lateral cleft for the emission of 

 the plumule, or at the apex of the nucleus. 



Floating plants, with very cellular, lenticular, or lobed 

 stems and leaves confounded. 



1. LEMNA. Linn. - 



Sterile and fertile jlowers collateral. Stamens 2. Utricle 

 1 5-seeded. Diandria. Monogynia. 



OBS. For an excellent and detailed account of this singular genus, 

 I would refer to Dr. Hooker's Flora Scotica. 



1. L. trisulca Linn. : fronds thin, elliptic -lanceolate, caudate at one 

 extremity, at the other serrate ; root solitary. 



HAB. Ditches and ponds. N. S. ; rarely in flower. July. ^. 

 Froncfc half an inch or more in^ length, thin, margin pellucid ; 

 young fronds produced from lateral clefts, of the same shape as 

 the parent plant, and again proliferous before they are detach- 

 ed. Floicers very minute. Root a single fibre. 



Duck's Meat. 



2. L. minor Linn. : fronds nearly ovate, compressed ; root solitary. 

 HAB. Stagnant waters. N. S. June, July. 0. Fronds a line 



and a half long, slightly convex beneath, somewhat fleshy, in- 

 creasing rapidly by gemmce (young fronds) so as often complete- 

 ly to cover the surface of stagnant water. 



3. L. gibba Linn. : fronds broadly ovate, almost flat above, hemis- 

 pherical and pale beneath ; root solitary. 



HAB. Stagnant waters, near Liverpool, N. Y. Pursh. June, 

 July. 0. Distinguished from the former by its being pale and 

 hemispherical beneath, and appearing reticulated. 



4. L. polyrrhiza Linn. : fronds obovate-rotundulate, compressed ; 

 roots numerous, fascicled. r 



HAB. Stagnant .waters. June, July. 0. Fronds 3 4 lines 

 long, succulent, of a firm texture. Root a bundle of 8 or 10 sim- 

 ple fibres in the middle of the frond. 



