MONOCHORIA.] PONTEDERIACEJS. 269 



and subspicately short- pedicelled ; spathe complicate below the 

 -raceme. Perianth campanulate, tube none ; lobes 6, distinct, 

 sub-e^ual. Stamens 6, adnate to the base of the perianth-lobes or 

 hypogynous, one normally larger than the others and with its fila- 

 ment toothed on one side ; anthers basifixed, dehiscing by a ter- 

 minal ultimately elongated slit. Ovary ovoid, sessile, 3-celled, with 

 many ovules in each cell, style filiform, stigma minutely 3-lobed. 

 Fruit an oblong membranous loculicidal capsule. Seeds many, 

 ovoid, obtuse, many-ribbed, embryo cylindric in the centre of 

 floury albumen. Species about 6, in the tropics of the Old 

 World. 



Kootstock elongate, creeping ; leaves hastate, 

 sagittate or cordate ; flowers on long stalks, 

 subumbellate or racemose ; inflorescence 

 centrifugal . . . . . . 1. M. hastce/olia, 



.Rootstock short, subere'ct ; flowers on short 

 stalks subspicate ; inflorescence centri- 

 petal : 



Leaves ovate or ovate-cordate ; flowers 



rather numerous . . . . .2. M . vaginalis. 



Leaves linear or narrowly ovate ; flowers 



few . . . . . . . M. vaginalis, VAK. 



plantaginea. 



1. M. hastsefolia, Presl. Reliq. Hoenk. i, 128 ; F. B. I. vi, 

 362 ; Prain Beng. PL 1079 ; Coolce Fl. Bomb, ii, 777. Pontederia 

 hastata, Linn. ; Roxb. ; Fl. Ind. ii, 121. P. sagitata, Roxb. I. c. 

 124. P. dilatata, Andr. ; Roxb. I. c. 123. Vern. Laukia. 



Rooistoclc stout, creeping and rooting below* spongy, clothed with the 

 remains of the old leaf -sheaths. Leaves 4-8 in. long, sagittate, hastate 

 or cordate, smooth and glossy, many-nerved ; petioles of floral leaves 

 tumid above and embracing the short stout peduncle ; petioles of 

 radical leaves l-2 ft. long with a broad sheathing base. Inflores- 

 cence centrifugal. Flowers in racemes or subumbellate, crowded, 

 bright purplish-blue ; pedicels up to 1 in. long. Perianth-segments 

 f in. long, becoming twisted round the fruit when withering ; the 3 

 inner ones obovate and wider than the 3 oblong outer ones, all with 3 

 strong parallel median nerves and reticulately veined between them 

 and towards the margins. Filament of large anther J in. long, with 

 -an acute horn at one side ; anthers linear-oblong, the large one 



