ALISMACE/E. (NVATER-PLANTAIN FAMILY.) 821 



peJ uncles, forming a pyramidal panicle at tlie top of the scape; bracts 

 lanceolate; petals white, orbicular, carpels obovatc, obtuse, with 

 grooved back, the ripe whorl having a funnel-shaped excavation at its 

 centre — Summer — Marshes and water courses; general. 



A leafing specimen, strongly resembling A. naUiiim, L., was 



found by the anther in a pool north of 'Ajluii (Gilead). 



2. DAMASOi^IUM, Juss. Damasonium. 



Flowers perfect. Sepals 3, herbaceous, persistent. Petals 3, 

 larger than calyx, deciduous. Stamens G, anthers attached by back, 

 just above base. Ovaries G-8, whorled, inserted on a flat, scarcely 

 thickened receptacle, connate at base, 1-celled, 2- co-ovuled, tapering 

 to a short, straight style. Carpels laterally compressed, witli a broad 

 base, adnata to the receptacle, stellate-divergent, coriaceous, lanceo- 

 late, gradually tapering to a straight beak. Seeds 2 or by abortion 1. 

 Embryo hooked — Aquatics with whorled flowers in intermitted spikes 

 or panicles. 



D. Boiirgsei, Cosson. .15 to .4; leaves loug-pctioled, oblong, 

 with cuneate, truncate, or cordate base, 3-o-nerved. Scapes thickish, 

 longer than leaves ; whorls 5-20-flowered, remote or approximated, form- 

 ing an interrupted spike or few-branched panicle; pedicels as long 

 as fruits to thrice as long; petals white, rhomboid-ovate, short-clawed; 

 carpels triquetrous-lanceolate, acute, strongly nerved nearly to tip of 

 beak ; seeds oblong-cylindrical, muriculate — April — bitches ; Acre, 

 Haifa, and southward to Egypt. 



3. BUTOMUS, L. Flowering Rush. 

 Flowers perfect. Sepals 3, persistent, somewhat colored. Petals 

 3, somewhat larger than petals, persistent. Stamens 0, six in pairs 

 opposite the sepals, three opposite the petals. Ovaries 0, whorled, 

 coherent at base, furnished at point of divergence with nectariferous 

 pores; style persistent, obliquely beaked. Ovules crowded, parietal, 

 nearly horizontal. Carpels coriaceous. Seeds minute, longitudinally 

 grooved, with membranous testa. Embryo straight, cyHndrical — 

 Aquatics, with showy flowers in umbels. 



B. iiinbellatii§, L. 21 .1 or more; root-stock horizontal. Leaves 

 somewhat triquetrous, linear, acute. Scape cylindrical, longer than 

 leaves; umbel terminal, many-flowered, rays .03 to .08 long; involucre 

 of 3, lanceolate, inflated leaves; sepals and petals obovate, the latter 

 somewhat larger, pink; open flower .02 l)road — April and ^lay — 

 Ditches and quiet waters; common. 



4. TRIGLOCIIIiV, L. Arrow-Grass. 



Perigonium of G, ovate, concave, deciduous divisions, the inner 3 

 inserted higher up. Stamens G, with short filaments, anthers attache*! 

 under the middle of the back. Ovaries G, connate in 1, separating at 

 maturity, 1-ovuled, the three alternate ones sometimes sterile; styles 

 nearly 0, stigmas short, plumose. Ovules basilar. Carpels adnate to 

 filiform axis, at length separating from it, l-secded, dehiscent at length 

 at the ventral angle. Seed erect, with thin testa — Herbs, Avith 

 raccmed-spiked flowers. 



T. palu§trc, L. 11 Root-stock short, bulb-like, covered with 

 tunics and fibres. Leaves narrdw-lincar, scmitcrcte. Scape longer than 



