6 CXXXI. HYDROCHARIDE^ (wRIGHT). 



4. BLYXA, Du Petit Thouars ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 451. 



Spathes cylindrical, male many-flowered, female 1-flowered. Male 

 flower : Calyx 3-lobed. Corolla lobes 3, much longer than the sepals 

 filiform. Stamens 6. Female flower : Calyx with a long tube. 

 Corolla as in the male. Styles 3, filiform. Ovary linear, rostrate, 1- 

 celled, with 3 parietal placentas. — A grass-like submerged herb with 

 creeping stem, rooting at the nodes. 



A second species occurs in Tropical Asia, Australia and Mauritius. 



1. B. radicans, Pddl. in Jmirn. Linn. Soc. xxii. 236, pi. 14. 

 Stem creeping, slender, rooting at the nodes. Leaves grass-like, 

 narrowly linear, obtuse, reaching 2 ft. in length, ^ in. wide, dilated at. 

 the base into a membranous sheath. Scape slender, 9 in. long, arising 

 from amongst the terminal leaves. Maie spathe, 2 in. long, narrowly 

 subcyHndrical^ slightly dilated at the base. Calyx-tube scarcely longer 

 than the spathe. Sepals slender, ligulate, obtuse, 4-5 iin. long, pale 

 green. Petals 7-8 Iin. long, narrow, white. Stamens 6, slender, Hnear- 

 acuminate. Pistillodia 3, short, dilated at the base. Female spathe 

 similar to the male. Calyx-tube 2 J in. long, exserted from the spathe ; 

 lobes 3-4 Iin. long, ligulate, obtuse, green. Petals white, very narrow, 

 linear, filiform, 7-8 Iin. long. Styles 3, slightly shorter than the petals. 



lower Guinea. Angola : Huilla, Welwitsch 1 



5. OTTELIA, Pers. ; Benth. et Hook, f . Gen. PI. iii. 453. 



Flowers hermaphrodite. Calyx of 3 oblong or linear lobes. 

 Petals 3, much larger than the calyx-lobes, obovate, yeUow or white. 

 Stamens 6-10 ; filaments flattened ; anthers oblong. Ovary oblong, 

 more or less rostrate, more or less completely 6 -celled by the intrusion 

 of the placentas ; styles 6, linear, 2-fid. Fruit inclosed in the 3-6- 

 winged spathe. — Aquatic herbs with very short stems. Leaves crowded, 

 some submerged, others with long petioles and floating, lanceolate 

 ovate or cordate. Scape elongated. 



A genus of about 6 species inhabiting the tropics of both hemispheres. 

 Leaves cordate at the base . . . . . .1.0. alismoides. 



Leaves acute at the base. 

 Spathe bifid. 



Scape terete 2. 0. lancifolia. 



Scape tetragonal at the apex 3. 0. vesiculata^ 



Spathe with about 10 teeth 4. 0. flantaginea. 



1. O. alismoides, Pers. >6'2/?i. i. 400. Rootstock perennial. Acau- 

 lescent. Leaves with long triquetrous petioles, broadly cordate, obtuse, 

 7-11-nerved, 4-6 in. wide. Flowers solitary on peduncles 6 in. to 1 ft. 

 long, hermaphrodite. Spathe closely applied to the ovary, 3-6-toothed 

 and winged. Calyx-lobes oblong, 6 Iin. long, 1 J Iin. wide. Petals 3, 

 broadly ovate, shortly unguiculate, white, 1 in. long. Stamens 6-10; 



