•JdO CLin, NAiADACE^ (bennett). [Oi/modocea. 



(). C» rotmndata, Aschers. d' Schweinf. in Sitzh. Ges. Naturf. Fr. 

 Berl. 1870, 84. Near C. nodosa, Aschers., but differs in the leaves 

 being 0-13-nerved, and the carpels strongly keeled, acute and dentate. 



Iffile £aad. Shore of the Red Sea near Suakin, Schweinfurth, 188 ! 



Also on the shores of Arabia and Madagascar. 



Order CLIV. ERIOCAULE^. (By N. E. Brown.) 



Flowers very small, regular or irregular, unisexual, bracteate or 

 ebracteate, very densely crowded into globose, hemispherical, oblong or 

 campanulate heads. Calyx of 2-3 equal or unequal, free or variously 

 connate, scarious or submembranous sepals, very rarely absent, often 

 more or less hairy on the back near the apex, or ciliate. Corolla usually 

 separated from the calyx by a distinct stipes, sometimes rudimentary, 

 especially in the, male flowers, rarely absent; petals 2-3, free or 

 variously connate, equal or unequal, membranous and hyaline or mode- 

 rately thick and opaque, with or without a gland on their inner face, 

 often ciliate or hairy. Stamens equal in number to the petals and 

 inserted upon them at or above their base, or 4 or 6 (or by abortion 

 fewer) in two series, the one alternating with the petals, the other 

 opposite to them ; filaments free, filiform or slightly flattened ; anthers 

 small, dorsifixed, ovate, oblong or subquadrate, 1-2-celled, opening 

 longitudinally. Staminodes in the female flowers rare, when present 

 minute. Pistil in the male flowers very rudimentary, reduced to 2-3 

 minute glands. Ovary of the female flowers superior, 2-3-celled ; style 

 terminal, divided above into 3 simple or bifid, filiform branches, with 

 or without three other branches or appendages alternating with them 

 or arising from the style below them ; ovules solitary in each cell, 

 pendulous, orthotropous. Fruit a 2-3-celled capsule; cells opening 

 longitudinally at the back. Seeds solitary in each cell, pendulous, 

 ellipsoid or subgiobose ; testa thin, striate, reticulate or very minutely 

 papillate-tubercuiate ; albumen firm ; embryo minute, lenticular, seated 

 at the apex of the albumen opposite the hilum. — Perennial or annual 

 herbs, growing in water, swamps, bogs, or on dry ground, stemless or 

 with simple or branched leafy stems. Leaves linear or subulate, alter- 

 nate, arranged in a dense or lax rosette or scattered along the stem. 

 Peduncles one to many to a plant, each with a tubular sheath at the 

 base, one- or rarely several-headed. Heads monoecious, or rarely with 

 the sexes in separate heads. Involucral or outer bracts in 2 to several 

 series, imbricate, sometimes radiating beyond the circumference of the 

 flowering part of the head, membranous, scarious or rigid. Flowering- 

 bracts solitary under each flower, variable in form, often hairy or ciliate 

 at the apex, rarely absent. Receptacle flat, convex, subgiobose or 

 elongated, glabrous, pilose or villous. Flowers usually very numerous, 

 very small or minute, pedicellate or sessile ; the females usually in the 

 outer part of the head, rarely central, sometimes irregularly inter- 

 mingled with the male flowers, rarely separated in distinct heads. 



A very distinct order of 6 genera and about 360 species, distributed throughout 



