PONTEDERIACE.E, (PICKEREL-WEED FAMILY.) 523 



ous, 2 - 4-flowered ; seeds uarrower and more-pointed. Ditches and low 

 grounds. July - Sept. The variety in the lower districts. 



19. J. bufoilius, L. Annual; steins low (2' -8' high), tufted; often 

 branched ; leaves very narrow ; panicles forking ; flowers solitary or 3 - 6 ill a 

 cluster ; sepals whitish, lanceolate, acute, longer than the oblong obtuse pale 

 capsule. Damp cultivated ground, apparently introduced. April- May. 



20. J. leptocaulis, Torr. & Gray. Stems low (6'- 12' high), casspitose, 

 slender ; leaves flat, shorter than the stem ; heads 1 - 5, 3 - 6-flowered ; sepals 

 ovate-lanceolate, nearly equal, awn-pointed, longer than the 3 - G stamens, 

 and obovate capsule; seed obovate, apiculate. Georgia, Teuuessee, and 

 westward. 



21. J. repens, Michx. Stems mostly creeping or floating ; leaves linear- 

 sword-shaped, those of the stem nearly opposite ; heads cymose, scattered, top- 

 shaped, several-flowered ; sepals rigid, lanceolate-subulate, slender-pointed, the 

 exterior strongly keeled, and as long as the linear-oblong obtuse capsule, 

 much shorter than the flat interior ones ; filaments exserted. Miry banks of 

 streams and ponds, Florida to North Carolina. July. Stems 6'- 2 long. 



ORDER 156. POXTEDERIACE^. (PICKEREL-WEED FAMILY.) 



Perennial aquatic or marsh herbs, with perfect mostly irregular 

 flowers from a 1 -leaved spathe. Perianth corolla-like, unequally 6- 

 cleft or 6-parted, imbricated in the bud, withering-persistent. Stamens 

 3-6, more or less unequal, and unequally inserted on the throat of 

 the perianth : anthers 2-celled, erect, introrse. Ovary free. Style 

 single: stigma 3-6-lobed. Capsule 1-3-celled, 1- many-seeded 

 Seeds anatropous. Embryo slender, in mealy albumen. 



1. PONTEDERIA, L. WAMPEE, PICKEREL-WEED. 



Perianth funnel-shaped, 2-lipped, with the upper lip 3-lobed, the lower 3- 

 parted, the curved tube fleshy and coiled in fruit. Stamens 6, unequally in- 

 serted ; the three lower ones exserted, the three upper short and often 

 imperfect : anthers oval, blue. Ovary 3-celled, two of the cells empty, the 

 other with a single suspended ovule. Style slender. Capsule (utricle) 1- 

 seeded. Rhizoma thick and creeping. Stem erect, bearing above the mid- 

 dle a single short-petioled leaf, and at the summit a hairy spike of blue flow- 

 ers, from a 1-leaved spathe. Radical leaves long-petioled, sheathing. 



1. P. COrdata, L. Stem and terete petioles erect (2 -3 high) ; leaves 



(3' - 8' long) varying from round-cordate to lance-oblong, obtuse, finely nerved ; 



spike dense, cylindrical (2'-4' long), the peduncle enclosed in the convolute 



spathe ; upper lobe of the hairy perianth spotted with yellow, the tube 6-ribbed. 



- Miry margins of ponds and rivers, Florida, and northward. July- Sept. 



2. HETERANTHERA, Ruiz & Pavon. 



Perianth salver-form, 6-lobed, the tube long and slender. Stamens 3, nearly 

 equal. Capsule 1 -celled, with 3 parietal placenta?, many-seeded. 



