332 ENDOGENOUS PLANTS 



SLENDER JUNCUS. 



Stem, 6 to 12 or 18 inches high, remarkably tough and wiry. Leaves 3 to 6 or 9 

 inches long, keeled. Panicle cymose, mostly with 2 principal branches, and 

 several shorter ones between ; flowers solitary, 1 or 2 subsessile in the forks of 

 the branches, and 2 or 3 unilateral on the branches. Capsule subglobose. 

 Hah. Moist, low grounds ; fields, &c. : common. Fl. June. Fr. Aug. 



Obs. This tough, homely little species, is apt to be abundant 

 along foot-paths, in moist open woodlands, and through clear- 

 ings, &e. 



6. J. bllfonillS, L. Annual ; stem low and leafy ; one of the 

 involucral leaves longer than the dichotomous panicle. 

 TOAD JUNCUS. 



Stem 2 to 6 or 8 inches high, often branched from the base, dichotomously pani- 

 culate above. Leaves shorter than the stem, dilated membranaceous and sheath- 

 ing at base. Panicle few-flbwered, usually with a solitary subsessile flower in the 

 forks of the branches. Capsule ovoid-oblong, yellowish. 

 Hob. Wet, low grounds ; margins of ponds : frequent. Fl. July. Fr. Sept 



ORDER CXIV. PONTEDERIA^CEAE. 



Aquatic herbs ; leaves mostly with sheathing petioles, often reduced to phyllodia ; 

 Jlowers perfect, more or less irregular (sometimes nearly regular), often spatha- 

 ceous; perianth corolla-like, tubular, free from the ovary, the border 6-lobed, 

 imbricated in 2 rows in the bud, withering; stamens 6, or 3, mostly unequal, or 

 dissimilar; anthers introrse ; style 1; stigma 3-lobed ; fruit a 1-seeded utricle, or a 

 capsule, which is 1- ot imperfectly 3-celled, and several-seeded; embryo in densely 

 farinaceous albumen. 



452. POtfTEDE^RIA, L. 



[Dedicated to Julius 'PontMera, Professor of Botany at Padua.] 

 Perianth recurved, bilabiate ; upper lip flat, 3-lobed, lower lip 3- 

 parted ; under side of the tube with 3 slits, the persistent base 

 inclosing the fruit. Stamens 6, unequal, 3 inserted near the sum- 

 mit, and 3 near the base, of the tube ; anthers oval, blue. Ovary 

 3-celled, 2 of the cells empty, the other with a single suspended 

 ovule; style subulate, shorter than the stamens. Utricle 1-celled, 

 filled with the single seed. Perennials: rhizoma thick, creeping; 

 leaves chiefly radical; flowers violet-blue, spiked, on a 1 -leafed 

 scape. 



1. P. cordata, *L. -Leaves sagittate-cordate, petiolate; spike 

 dense, from a spathe-like bract. 

 CORDATE PONTEDERIA. Pickerel-weed. 



Leaves 4 to 8 inches long, tapering to the apex but rather obtuse, smooth; 

 thickish and somewhat fleshy ; petioles 2 to 4 inches long. Scape 1 to 2 feet high , 

 spathe oblong, sheathing the stout pubescent peduncle ; flowers sessile, aggregated 

 by twos or threes in a terminal spike about 3 inches in length. 

 Hob. Margin of the Schuylkill : rare. FL July. Fr. Sept. 



453. HETERAtf THE'RA, Ruiz $ Pavon. 



[Qr. Heteros, different, and Aner, for anther; the anthers being dissimilar.] 

 Perianth with the border nearly equally 6-parted, withering-fugaci- 



