64 



COMMELINACEAE. 



1. Zebrina pendula Schnitzl. Wandering 

 Jew. (Fig. 91.) Stems 1° long or more, 

 branclied. Leaves l'-2' long, acute or acumi- 

 nate, purple beneath, longitudinally green- or 

 white-banded above, their sheaths ciliate at the 

 throat; flowers glomerate between 2 upper 

 leaves; calyx-tube white; corolla-tube white; 

 limbs of the petals ovate, rose-purple. [Trades- 

 cantia discolor of H. B. Small.] 



Locally escaped from gardens, where it is com- 

 monly planted for ornament and is very luxuriant. 

 Flowers nearly throughout the year. Native of 

 the West Indies and Central America. 



Rhoeo discolor (L'Her.) Hance, Oyster 

 Plant, West Indian, a nearly stemless succu- 

 lent plant, with large imbricated lanceolate 

 purplish leaves, the short-peduncled clustered 

 flowers subtended by large ovate concave bracts, 

 is occasional in gardens. [Tradescantia dis- 

 color L'Her.; Cyanotis discolor of Jones.] 



Tradescantia virginica L., Blue Spiderwort, North American, with linear 

 leaves and showy blue umbellate flowers is another garden plant of this family. 



Family 2. PONTEDERIACEAE Dumort. 



Pickerel-weed Family. 



Perennial aquatic or bog j^lants, the leaves petioled, with thick blades, 

 or long and grass-like. Flowers perfect, more or less irregular, solitary 

 or spiked, subtended by leaf-like spathes. Perianth free from the ovary, 

 corolla-like, 6-parted. Stamens 3 or 6, inserted on the tube or the base of 

 the perianth; filaments filiform, dilated at the base or thickened at the 

 middle; anthers 2-celled, linear-oblong or rarely ovate. Ovary 3-celled 

 with axile placentae, or 1-celled with 3 parietal placentae; style filiform or 

 columnar; stigma terminal, entire or minutely toothed; ovules anatropous, 

 numerous, sometimes only 1 of them perfecting. Fruit a many-seeded 

 capsule, or a 1-celled, 1-seeded utricle. Endosperm of the seed copious, 

 mealy; embryo central, cylindric. About 5 genera and 25 species, in tem- 

 perate and tropical regions. 



1. PIABOPUS Eaf. 

 Herbs, with floating rootstocks copiously root-bearing at the nodes, the 

 leaves clustered at the nodes, the petioles slender or inflated, the blades commonly 

 dilated. Flowers s^essile, solitary, or in terminal spikes or racemes. Perianth 

 showy, its 6 parts in 2 series, united into a tube below, the limb oblique. Stamens 

 6, irregularly adnate to the perianth, 3 included, 3 exserted ; filaments sometimes 

 flattened at the base. Ovary 3-celled; stigma terminal; ovules numerous. 

 Capsule included in the withering-persistent perianth, loculicidal. Seeds many- 

 ribbed. [Greek, referring to the swollen petiole of the following species.] 

 About 5 species, natives of tropical America. Type species: Pontederia 

 azurea Sw. 



