518 FLORA OF MADRAS. [Circaea. 



above the ovary; lobes 2. Petals 2, obcordate, inserted under 

 the margin of the epigynous disk. Stamens 2, alternate with 

 the petals; filaments filiform. Ovary inferior, 1-2 -celled ; ovules 

 attached to the inner angle of the cells ; style filiform ; stigma 

 capitate. Fruit small, pyriform, indehiscent, hispid with hooked 

 hairs. Seeds 1 in each cell, ellipsoid ; cotyledons flat. 

 CIRCAEA ALPINA, Linn.; F. B. I. ii. 589; Wt. 111. t. 101. 



W. Ghats, in the Nilgiri and Pulney Hills, at about 7,000 ft., 



in shady places. 



A small, slender herb, reaching about 6-8 in. high, with 



membranous ovate leaves and 3-seeded fruit. 



4. Trapa, Linn. 



Aquatic floating herbs. Leaves dimorphic, the submerged 

 ones opposite, root-like, primatipartite, the floating ones rosulate, 

 rhomboid, the petiole with a spongy swelling near its apex. 

 Flowers axillary, solitary, peduncled. Calyx-tube short, adnate 

 to the lower part of the ovary ; lobes 4, 2 or all becoming spines 

 on the fruit. Petals 4, sessile, white, inserted on the margin of 

 the epigynous, cup-shaped disk. Stamens 4. Ovary 2-celled, 

 semi-inferior with a conical apex; ovule solitary in each cell; 

 pendulous ; style subulate ; stigma capitate. Fruit large, bony, 

 1-celled, with 4 angles, 2 or all of which spinose, indehiscent, with 

 a short beak through which the radicle is protruded. Seed ], 

 inverted, cotyledons very unequal ; radicle incurved. 



TRAPA BISPINOSA, Roxb. Cor. PI. t. 234; F. B. I. ii. 590; 

 W. & A. 337. 



Most plains Districts, floating in tanks, sometimes cultivated. 



The Water-Chestnut. 



A plant with long stems bearing pectinate leaves (stipules, 



according to some authors) beneath the surface and curious 



rhomboid rosulate leaves with swollen petioles on the surface. 



The 2-spined fruit is eaten, either raw or cooked, and gives 



much starch. Yern. Hind. Singhara. 

 Yar. incisa, Wall. Leaves smaller, more deeply incised at 



the margins, less villous ; fruit smaller. W. Coast Districts 



(Wight). 



Oenothera rosea, Ait., and 0. tetraptera, Cav., also perhaps 

 some other species, are found in gardens and apparently run 



