78 PIPERACE^E. Anemopsis. 



adnate to the ovary at base. Ovary sunk in the rhachis of the spike, 1 -celled, of 3 

 or 4 carpels, with as many spreading stigmas and parietal 4- 10-ovulate placentae. 

 Capsule dehiscent at the top. Seeds rounded, puuctulate. Stoloniferous saline 

 herbs, with a thick strongly pungent astringent and aromatic rootstoek; leaves 

 mostly radical, rather thick, minutely punctate. Anemia, Nutt. 



Only the following species ; nearly allied to Houttuynia (of 1 or 2 species) of E. Asia. 



1. A. Calif ornica, Hook. More or less floccose : stems \ to 1| feet high, with 

 a broadly ovate clasping leaf above the middle and a fascicle of 1 to 3 small peti- 

 oled leaves in the axil : radical leaves elliptic-oblong, rounded above, more or less 

 narrowed toward the cordate base, 2 to 6 inches long, somewhat ciliate ; petioles 

 about equalling or shorter than the blade, dilated and sheathing at the very base : 

 bracts of the involucre white, oblong, unequal, 6 to 15 lines long: spike ^ to 1J 

 inches long : floral bracts white, rounded or oblong, unguiculate, 2 or 3 lines long : 

 ovules 6 to 10 on each placenta. Ann. Nat. Hist. i. 136; Hook. & Arn. Bot. 

 Beechey, 390, t. 92 ; Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 5292 ; C. DC. Prodr. xvi 1 , 237 ; Watson, 

 Bot. King Exp. 426. 



In moist saline localities, from the Sacramento to Southern California, and eastward to S. 

 Utah and the Rio Grande ; Northern Mexico. Common near the southern coast, and much used 

 for medicinal purposes by the Indians and Mexicans. A second species (A. Bolanderi, C. DC., 

 Linna;a, xxxvii. 333) is described as smooth, with petioles elongated (8 inches long) and sheathing 

 for a third of their length ; veinlets 10 to 12 on each side of the midrib ; ovules about 4 on each 

 placenta. It is reported as collected by Bolander in California, but is known only from the de- 

 scription and is probably not distinct. 



ORDER XC. CERATOPHYLLACE.E. 



Perennial aquatic submerged herbs, with cylindric jointed stems and branches, 

 verticillate sessile tiliformly 2 3-chotomous leaves without stipules, and monoe- 

 cious axillary sessile flowers, without perianth, but surrounded by a persistent 

 8 12-cleft involucre; anthers numerous, sessile, fleshy, 2 3-cuspidate at top; 

 ovary solitary, 1 -celled, with a pendulous orthotropous ovule; akene beaked by the 

 slender persistent style, and usually with lateral spines or margined; seed with 

 membranous transparent testa and no albumen ; radicle inferior, very short, the coty- 

 ledons thick and oval, and the highly developed plumule consisting of several 

 nodes and leaves. A single genus of few species (perhaps forms of one), widely 

 distributed around the globe. 



1. CERATOPHYLLUM, Linn. HOENWORT. 

 Characters as of the order. 



1. C. demersum, Linn. Stems very slender, a foot or two long, smooth or 

 nearly so : leaves in numerous whorls of 6 to 8 ; the filiform or linear segments 

 acute, more or less aculeate-dentate, ^ to 1 inch long : akene 2 lines long or more, 

 elliptical, somewhat compressed, shortly stipitate, with a short spine or tubercle on 

 each side near the base, not margined : style as long as the akene. Schkuhr, 

 Handb. iii. 253, t. 297 ; Benth. Fl. Austral, ii. 491. C. apiculatum, Chamisso in 

 Linnsea, iv. 503, t. 5, fig. e. 



Near San Francisco (Chamisso) ; the fruit is described and figured as having a weak style, 

 smooth, and with only a small tubercle on each side near the base. It has also been collected at 

 Clear Lake and other localities in Northern California, in Western Nevada, and in Washington 



