

CLXIX. ALISMAOE^;. (J. D. Hooker.) 561 



3. SAGXTTARXA, Linn. 



Erect stemless, usually perennial water plants. Leaves long-petioled, 

 elliptic cordate or sagittate. Flowers in panicied or spicate whorls, 

 unisexual or polygamous. Sepals 3, herbaceous. Petals 3, membranous, 

 deciduous. Stamens 6 or more ; filaments filiform, compressed. Car- 

 pels very many, crowded on a large globose or oblong receptacle, 

 laterally flattened ; style ventral or apical, stigma papillose ; ovules solitary, 

 basilar. Fruit a globose or oblong head of flattened crested or winged 

 achenes. Seeds erect, testa thin ; embryo hippocrepic. Species about 15, 

 temperate and tropical. 



1. S. sag ittifolia, Linn. ; leaves hastate or sagittate, achenes flat 

 dorsally winged. Kuntli JEnum. iii. 156 ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 645 ; Wall. 

 Cat 4991 ; Reichb. Fl. Germ. vii. t. 53 ; Boiss. Fl. Orient, v. 11 ; Micheli 

 in A. DC. Monogr. Phan. iii. 66. S. hermaphrodita, Ham. in Wall. Cat. 

 I. c. S. hastata, Don Prodr. 22. S. Doniana, Sweet, Sort. Brit. 1826. 



In tanks, &c., throughout the plains of INDIA from the Panjab to Bengal and 

 Munnipore. DISTEIB. Europe, N. Asia, N. America. 



Leaves obtuse or acute, 2-8 in. long, very rarely elliptic or lanceolate, lobes more 

 or less diverging ; petiole 8-18 in., trigonous. Scape 6-18 in., with 3-5 whorls of 

 3-5 flowers each ^ in. diam. ; lower whorls fern., upper male, with longer pedicels ; 

 bracts short, obtuse. Flowers f in. diam. ; petals white, claw often purple. Achenes 

 obliquely obovate, apiculate, wings broad entire or subcrenate. 



2. S. guayanensis, Humb. Bonpl. & Kunth, Nov. Gen. & Sp. i. 250; 

 leaves floating broadly ovate deeply cordate obtuse, achenes flat surrounded 

 by a broad toothed wing. Kunth Enum. iii. 161. S. cordifolia, Roxb. Fl. 

 Ind. iii. 647; Kuntli I. c. S. Lappula, Don. Prodr. 22. S. parviflora, 

 Wall. Cat. (ex Micheli). Alisma ? Hamiltonianum and cristatum, Wall. 

 Cat. 4993, 4994, 4995. A. stellatum and pubescens, Ham. ex Wall. Cat. 

 4993, 4995. Lophiocarpus guayanensis, Micheli in A.DC. Monogr. Phan. 

 iii. 62. 



In tanks and marshes, throughout the plains of INDIA, to BURMA and the 

 MALAY PENINSULA, but not very common ; (not in Ceylon). DISTEIB. Malay Islands, 

 China, trop. Australia. 



Petioles, scape, and pedicels often more or less hairy. Leaves 1-2 in., mem- 

 branous, lobes broad acute or obtuse, sinus broad or narrow ; nerves radiating, 

 obscure ; petiole long or short. Scape 6-18 in., stout. Flowers f in. diam., white, 

 in few approximate irregular whorls ; pedicels short, very stout ; flowers of the lower 

 whorls usually ternate, bisexual, 9-12-androus, of the upper more numerous, male, 

 6-10-androus. Petals obovate, erose. Anthers cordate at the base. Achenes very 

 many. 



4. WISNERIA, Micheli. 



Scapigerous marsh or water herbs. Leaves long-petioled, filiform 

 lanceolate or oblanceolate. Flowers minute, monoecious, in remote involu- 

 crate whorls on a very slender rachis ; involucre campanulate, truncate, 

 membranous. Sepals 3, equal or one larger, persistent. Petals 2-4, 

 equalling or smaller than the sepals. MALE FL. Stamens 3. Pistillodes 

 subulate. FEM. FL. Staminodes setaceous. Carpels 3-6, erect, ovoid ; re- 

 ceptacle small tumid ; style 0, or terminal, short, stigma minute ; ovule 

 solitary, basilar. Achenes and seed subglobose or compressed; embryo 

 conduplicate, hyppocrepic. Species 3, Trop. Asia, Africa, and Madagas- 

 car. 



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