47G BURMANNIACE.E. (BURMANJSTIA FAMILY.) 



1. V. spiralis, L. Slow-flowing streams and ponds. July - Sept. 

 2/ Plant creeping, proliferous. Leaves obtuse, 5 - 9-nerved, sharply serru- 

 late, l-3long, 6"- 12" wide. Scape of the sterile flowers T-4'long; of 

 the fertile, spiral, 2 -5 long. Fruit \' -3' long, often curved. 



3. HALOPHILA, Thouars. 



Flowers dioecious, axillary, solitary. Perianth 2-leaved. Stamens 3, mon- 

 adelphous ; anthers 1-celled. Ovary 1-celled, with numerous parietal ovules. 

 Style long, filiform ; stigmas 3-5, peuicillate. Capsule iudehisceut. Seeds 

 globular. Embryo in copious albumen. Marine herbs, witli creeping stems, 

 and opposite pellucid stipulate leaves. 



1. H. (?) Engelmannii, Ascherson. Stem filiform, much branched; 

 leaves, seemingly whorled at the end of the brandies, linear-oblong, 3-nerved, 

 sharply serrulate (!' or less long); flowers and fruit unknown. Muddy 

 coves along the west coast of Florida. 



4. LIMNOBIUM, Richard. 



Flowers monoecious, from a membranaceous mostly sessile spathe, peduucled. 

 Sterile spathe entire, 2 - 3-flowered ; the fertile 3-leaved, 1-flowered. Sepals 

 and petals 3, united in the fertile flower, and coherent with the ovary. Sta- 

 mens 6-12, monadelphous: anthers linear. Ovary 6 9-celled, witli as many 

 central placenta?, forming a many-seeded berry in fruit. Stigmas 6-9, each 

 2-parted. A floating aquatic herb, with copious pendent roots, long-petioled 

 round-cordate and many-nerved leaves, and small white flowers. 



1. L. Spongia, Richard. Stems extensively proliferous; leaves purplish 

 beneath, and with air-cells near the base ; sterile peduncles tender, soon van- 

 ishing ; the fertile commonly short and thick, recurved in fruit ; petals ob- 

 long, alternating in the fertile flower with a pair of minute sterile filaments. 

 Still water, Florida, and northward. July -August. 2/ Leaves 2' -4' 

 wide. 



ORDER 143. BURMANNIACE^E. (BURMANNIA FAMILY.) 



Small herbs, with filiform stems, scale-like leaves, and regular per- 

 fect flowers. Sepals and petals united to form a tubular unequally 

 6-cleft corolla-like perianth, with the tube coherent with the 1- or 3- 

 celled many-ovuled ovary. ' Stamens 3 or 6, inserted on the tube of 

 the perianth : anther cells separate, 2-lobed, opening crosswise. Style 

 slender: stigmas 3, dilated. Placentae 3, central or parietal. Capsule 

 many-seeded. Seeds minute, with a loose or reticulated testa. 



1. BURMANNIA, L. 



Tube of the perianth mostly 3-angled or 3-winged, withering- persistent* 

 the three interior lobes smaller. Stamens 3, very short. Ovary 3-celled, 

 with three thick 2-lobed central placentte. Stigmas globose, dilated or 2- 



