ACHLYS. . 29 



BRASENIA. 



rows. Filaments slender, the outer ones dilated at the sum- 

 mit . Stigma sessile dilated. Ovule solitary, erect. Fruit at 

 first somewhat fleshy, at length dry and coriaceous lunate-in- 

 curved, dorsally carinate. ventrally excavated each side of the 

 fleshy salient suture or ventral appendage. Embryo minute. 



A. triphylla DC. Syst. ii. 35. Kootstock creeping, clothed with glu- 

 maceous scales : leaves ample,long-petioled,a foot or more high from a scaly 

 base ; leaflets broadly cuneate, 3-5 inches long, the outer margin irregu- 

 larly and coarsely sinuate,very fragrant when drying : scape solitary, equal- 

 ing 'or surpassing the leaf. In Fir forests, Brit* Columbia to California. 



ORDER III. NYMPILEACE->E Endl. Gen. 858. 



Aquatic perennial herbs with trunk-like horizontal root- 

 stocks or tubers. Leaves peltate or deeply cordate involute 

 from both margins in the bud. Flowers perfect, solitary on long 

 axillary peduncles. Stamens numerous. Ovules on the back 

 or sides of the carpels, embryo small at the base of fleshy albu- 

 men, enclosed in a fleshy bag. 



1. Brasenia. Carpels 4-18, in a cluster, indehiscent, 2-seeded. 



2. Nymphaea. Carpel only one, many-celled and many-seeded : sepals 5- 

 12, concave. 



3. Castalia. Carpel only one, many celled and many-ovuled : sepals only 

 4, plain. 



1. BRASENIA Schreb. Gen. 372. 



Aquatic perennial herbs with peltate leaves and purple flow- 

 ers. Sepals and petals nearly alike, nearly oblong, dull dark 

 purple hopogynous persistent, 3-4 of each. Stamens 12-18 hyp- 

 ogynous. Filaments slender. Anthers oblong-linear. Carpels 

 11-18, distinct, tipped with the linear one-sided stigma. Fruit 

 a 1-2 seeded indehiscent pod. 



B. Schreberi Gmel. Syst. Veg. i, 854: B. peltata,Pursh. Fl. ii, 389. 

 Stems ascending from a tuberous rootstock : leaves floating alternate on long 

 slender petioles, elliptical,, centrally peltate, light green above, red and when 

 young covered with a clear jelly-like substance beneath; flowers 6 lines 

 long. In ponds, Brit. Columbia to California, and east to the Atlantic. 



2 . NYMPHS A Boerh . Hort . Acad . Bat . 281 . 



Herbs of shallow waters, sending up large and mostly rather 

 leathery cordate leaves, and 1-flowered peduncles from large 

 and creeping rootstocks in the mud beneath. Sepals 5-13. con- 

 cave and roundish, partly colored. Petals numerous, some of 

 the inner ones resembling sterile stamens persistent. Stam- 

 ens numerous, short, hypogynous, densely crowded around the 

 ovary, at length recurving, persistent. Anthers truncate at the 

 apex, the two linear cells adnate introrse. Ovary oblong or 

 ovate, 8-20 celled. Stigma sessile, peltate, many-rayed. Fruit 

 ovoid or flask-shaped indehiscent, with a firm rind and fleshy 

 or pulpy interior. Cells many-seeded. 



