660 CXLVI. HYDROCHARiDEJ!. (J. D. Hooker.) [Layarosiplioii. 



iii. 750 ; Wight in Hook. Sot. Misc. ii. 344, Suppl. t. 11 ; Ham. in Brewst. 

 Mdinb.Joum. Sc. i. (1824) 34. 



Common in tanks throughout INDTA and CEYLON. DISTEIB. Tropical Asia. 

 Stems filiform. Leaves 3-4 in., nerveless, acute, often twisted. Male spathes 

 at length 2-valved ; flower on a short spadix ; anthers 2, dehiscence transverse. 



3. VALLISNERIA, Linn. 



A submerged tufted stemless stoloniferous dioecious herb. Leaves very 

 long, linear. Malefl. very numerous, minute, in an ovoid 3-lobed shortly 

 peduncled spathe; sepals 3; petals 0; stamens 1-3; anthers didymous ; 

 pistillode 0. Fem.fl. solitary in a tubular 3-toothed spathe terminating a 

 very long tiliform spiral scape; perianth of the male; staminodes 3, 2-tid ; 

 ovary narrow, not produced upwards ; stigmas 3, broad, notched ; ovules 

 numerous. Fruit linear, included in the spathe, many-seeded. 



V. spiralis, Linn. Sp. PL 1015; Reichb. Ic. Fl. Germ. t. 60; Hook. 

 Sot. Hue. iii. 87, Suppl. t. 23,24; Benth. Fl. Austral, vi. 259; Boiss. 

 Fl. Orient, v. 3; Wall. Cat. 5045. Y. spiraloides, Roxb. Fl. 2nd. iii. 

 750. 



Throughout INDIA and CEYLON. DISTRIB. Westward to Spain, and in warm 

 regions of the Old and New Worlds. 



Very variable in size. Leaves long, 10 by \ in., or shorter according to the depth 

 of water, green, translucent, entire or tips serrulate. Male spathes in., breaking 

 off at the base, when the flowers emerge rise to and float on the surface, pedicels 

 long slender. Fern-, spathe carried to the surface in flower by the uncoiling of the 

 scape, which after fertilization again coils close and brings the ovary down to ripen 

 under water. 



4. BIiYXA, TJwuars. 



Submerged tufted, stemless, scapigerous, hermaph. or dioecious annuals ; 

 scapes long or short. Leaves linear, acute, entire or minutely serrulate. 

 Malefl. several in a tubular 2-toothed spathe; sepals 3, linear; petals 3, 

 longer, linear ; stamens 3-9, 1 or more arrested, anthers narrow erect; 

 pistillodes 3, slender. Fem.fl. solitary, sessile in its spathe; spathe and 

 perianth of the male; staminodes 0, or minute; ovary very slender, 

 beaked; style very short ; stigmas 3, filiform; ovules many. Fruit very 

 slender included in the ventricose ribbed spathe, many -seeded ; seed with 

 a mucilaginous testa. 



Under this genus the following Indian forms occur. These present such diverse 

 characters that it ia difficult to suppose they do not represent species ; on the other 

 hand, water plants are so variable, and herbarium specimens of them are so un- 

 satisfactory, that I must leave it to Indian botanists to work up the genus. 1 

 refrain from citing extra- Indian authorities. 



* Leaves broad at the base, narrowed upwards to the acuminate tip. 



1. B. Roxburgh!!, Rich, in Mem. Inst. Fr. 1811, 77, t. 5; leaves 

 8-24 in., flowers dioecious, stamens '8, capsule 2-4 by in., compressed? 

 seeds small ^ T in. tubercled with or without short tails. Yallisneriaoctandra, 

 Moxb. Cor. PI. ii. 34, t. 165; Fl. Ind. iii. 752. 



BENGAL, and the MALAY and DECCAN PENINSULAS, common in still water. 

 DISTUIB. Trop. Asia, Australia. 



