Alisma.] clii. alismacevE (weight). 207 



--Inner perianth-segment much smaller than the outer, 

 or absent. 

 Flowers dicecious, paniculate ; stamens 9 ; carpels 



n^any 0. Burnatia. 



Flowers monoecious, subspicate ; stamens 3 ; carpels 



3-6 7. WiSNKRIA. 



Tribe II. Butomeae. — Ovules numerous, on retlculateJy branched parietal 

 placentas. Carpels dehiscing along the ventral suture. 



Only Tropical African genus 8. Butomopsis. 



1. ALISMA, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 1004. 



Flowei-s hermaphrodite. Sepals 3, herbaceous, persistent, patent, 

 reflexed or erect after flowering. Petals ?>, larger than the sepals', 

 deciduous. Stamens 6, rarely 9, slightly perigynous ; filaments subulate • 

 anthers dorsifixed near the base. Carpels few or many, distinct, inserted 

 on a small receptacle; style ventral or subapical, often very short, 

 deciduous or persistent; stigma terminal, small; ovule solitary, basal, 

 raphe ventral. Achenes few or many, laterally compressed or turgid, 

 usually dorsally 3-ribbed ; pericarp coriaceous or hardened, indehiscent. 



Seed basal, erect, compressed ; testa membranous ; embryo curved. 



Perennial, acaulescent, scapigerous, marsh herbs. Leaves erect, long 

 petioled, elliptic, lanceolate or sagittate, sometimes pellucid dotted. 

 Scape short or long. Flowers umbellate or on a panicle with verticillate 

 branches and branchlets, with 3 bracts at the nodes, long pedicellate, 

 white or light rose. 



Species about 10, in Europe and Temperate and Tropical Asia, Australia, and 

 America. 



Carpels verticillate, laterally compressed . . .1. A. Flantago. 



Carpels irregularly verticillate, scarcely compressed. 



Sepals erect after flowering, sheathing the fruit . 2. A. parnassifolium. 

 Sepals patent after flowering . , . . . 3. A. oligocorcum. 



1. A. PlantagOy Linn. Sp. PI. ed. i. 342. Khizome tuberous, 

 densely covered with root-fibres. Leaves lanceolate, ovate or cordate, 

 lJ-8 in. by J-4J in., 3-7-nerved. Scapes solitary or many, erect or 

 more or less arcuate, 1-2 ft. high, obscurely trigonous ; branches ver- 

 ticillate ; flowers about 8 in each verticil ; pedicels slender, patent ; 

 bracts lanceolate, acute, membranous, 5-0 lin. long. Sepals broadly 

 ovate, scarious at the margins, B-lO-nerved, Ij lin. by 1 lin. Petals 

 larger than the sepals, broadly obovate, white. Anthers oblong, as 

 long as, or shorter than, the complanate filaments. Carpels ir>-20; 

 style filiform, aristate. Achenes more or less trigonous, much com- 

 pressed, membranous at the sides, dorsally 2-ribbed, ^^-1 in. long; 

 remains of style ventral, aristate. Seed-testa thin, slightly rugose. — 

 A. Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss, ii. 340 ; Micheli in DC. Monogr. Phan. iii. 

 32 ; Z^,rb in Cat. Spec. Bot. Pfund, 30 ; Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. vi. o.^)!» ; 

 Engl. Hochgebirgsfl. Trop. Afr. 110; Schweinf. in Hull. Herb. Boiss. ii. 

 Append, ii. 93; Diirand & Schinz, Conspect. Fl. Afr. v. 480 ; Gregory, 



