Lentibulacea.] lentibulace^e. 255 



eluded in the tube and inserted at its base. Anthers 1 -celled. Ovary free, 

 1 -celled, with several ovules inserted on a short free central placenta. Style 

 short, with a 2-lipped stigma. Fruit a capsule. Seeds minute, without albu- 

 men. Embryo with very short cotyledons, or apparently undivided. — Marsh 

 or aquatic plants, with radical or floating leaves (or sometimes none). Flowers 

 solitary or several in a raceme, on leafless radical or terminal peduncles or scapes. 

 A family of very few genera, dispersed over the greater part of the globe. 



1. UTRICTXLARIA, Linn. 



Calyx deeply 2-lobed. Corolla spurred ; the mouth of the tube closed or 

 nearly so by a convex palate ; the upper lip short, broad, and 2-lobed ; the 

 lower longer, broadly 3-lobed, all the lobes turned back. Capsule globular, 

 opening in 2 valves. — Marsh plants, either leafless or with entire radical 

 leaves, or floating plants, with leaves divided into capillary segments, and 

 often interspersed with little bladders or vesicles full of air. Peduncles or 

 scapes radical or axillary, often with a few minute alternate scales. Flowers 

 in a terminal raceme, with a similar scale or bract under each pedicel. 



A considerable genus, with the wide general range of the Order. 



Floating plants. Leaves divided into capillary segments, mostly inter- 

 spersed with utricles. 

 Pedicels thickened after flowering. Corolla near £ in. across. Style 



elongated 1. JJ.fiexuosa. 



Fruiting pedicels slender. Corolla not 3 lines across. Stigma sessile 



or nearly so 2. V. diantha. 



Marsh plants. Leaves radical, entire, or none. 



Leaves linear or linear-spathulate, usually disappearing before the time 

 of flowering. 

 Scales and bracts fixed by the base. 



Flowers blue or purple. Fruiting pedicels erect or spreading, 3 



lines long. Calyx-lobes acute in fruit 3. U. ccerulea. 



Flowers yellow. Fruiting pedicels scarcely 2 lines long, recurved. 



Calyx-lobes obtuse in fruit 4. U. bifida. 



Scales and bracts attached by the centre, free and pointed above and 



below 5. U. racemosa. 



Leaves orbicular, with slender petioles, present at the time of flower- 

 ing. Calyx-lobes very unequal. 

 Spur of the corolla slender, about equalling the lower lip . . . . 6. U. orbiculata. 

 Spur of the corolla conical, much shorter than the lower lip . . . 7- U. Harlandi. 



1. U. flexuosa, Valil ; Oliv. in Journ. Linn. Soc. iii. 175. Stems 

 floating, branched, extending to 1 or more feet. Leaves all submerged and 

 root-like, dichotomously divided into numerous capillary segments, inter- 

 spersed with little globular bladders or utricles. Peduncles usually 3 to 6 

 in. long, with few or no scales, bearing a raceme of 3 to 6 yellow flowers. 

 Pedicels erect and slender at the time of flowering, usually turned downwards 

 and thickened upwards when in fruit. Calyx-lobes usually unequal, enlarged 

 and spreading in fruit. Corolla full 5 lines across ; the spur obtuse, about 2 

 lines long. Style above 1 line long. Capsule near 3 lines diameter. — U. 

 fasciculata, Eoxb. ; Wight, Ic. 1. 1568. U. externa, Hance in Walp. Ann. iii. 3. 



In small streams, Hance. In a small pond at East Point, Wilford. "Widely distributed 

 over India, from Ceylon and the Peninsula to the Archipelago, and northward to the Hima- 

 laya and S. China. 



