454 WATER PLANTAIN FAMILY. 



2. TRADESCANTIA, SPIDEKWORT. (Named for the gardener 



botanist 'rrnde^rant.) Leaves sheathed at the base. 2/ 



« IJjnbels sessile at the end of the stem and branches between a.pairoj 

 leaves, or later also in the loicer axils; flowering in summer. 



T. Virginica, Linn. W. N. Y., W. and S. ; also in gardens; leaves 

 lance-linear, tapering regularly from the base to the point, ciliate ; umbels 

 terminal ; flowers blue, in garden varieties purple or white. There are 

 forms with broader leaves, lower stature, and pubescent stems and leaves. 



* * Umbels one or two on a naked peduncle. 



T. r68ea, Vent. Sandy woods, Md., S. and W.; slender, 6'-12' high, 

 smooth, with linear, grass-like leaves, and rose-colored flowers ^' wide. 



3. ZEBRINA. (Name refers to the stripes often present on the leaves.) 



Z. pendu/a, Schnitzl. (Tradescantia zebrina and T. xRfcoLOR). 

 Wandering Jew. Common in greenhouses and window baskets; 

 spreads by branching and rooting freely ; the lance-ovate or oblong 

 rather succulent leaves crimson beneath, and green or purplish above, 

 often variegated with two broad stripes of silvery white. Mexico. 2/ 



CXXII. ALISMACE^, WATER PLANTAIN FAMILY. 



Marsh herbs, with flowers on scapes or scape-like stems, in 

 panicles, racemes, or spikes, with distinct calyx and corolla, 

 viz. 3 persistent green sepals and 3 conspicuous white petals, 

 and many distinct pistils which are 1-celled and mostly 1- 

 ovuled ; stamens 6 or more, on the receptacle. Flowers long- 

 stalked, loosely racemed or panicled, with dry lanceolate bracts 

 at the base. Fruit an akene in ours. Leaves sheathing, some- 

 times reduced to petioles. Juice sometimes milky. 



1. ALISMA. Flowers perfect, loosely panicled. Petals involute in the bud. Stamens 6. 



Ovaries many, in a ring, very flat-sided, becoming coriaceous flat akenes, 2-8-keeled 

 on the back. 



2. ECHINODORUS. Flowers perfect, in proliferous umbels. Petals imbricated in the 



bud. Stamens 9 or more. Ovaries heaped in a head, becoming wingless akenes. 



3. SAGITTAKIA. Flowers moncecious, rarely dicecious or polygamous, in successive 



whorls, the sterile at the summit of the scape ; the lowest fertile. Stamens usually 

 numerous. Ovaries very many, heaped on the globular receptacle, in fruit becom- 

 ing flat and winged akenes. 



1. ALISMA, WATER PLANTAIN. (The old Greek name, of un- 

 certain iiK^aning.) Flowers all late summer. 



A. Plantdgo, Linn. Shallow water; leaves long-petioled, varying 

 from ovate or oblong-heart-shaped to lanceolate, .3-5-ribbed ; panicle l"-2° 

 long, of very many and loose, small, white flowers. Variable. ^ 



2. ECHINODORUS. (From Greek words for prickly flask, the head 

 of fruit being as it were prickly-pointed by the styles, but hardly so in 

 our species.) The following occur in muddy or wet places ; flowers sum- 

 mer ; the flowering shoots or scapes mostly proliferous and creeping. 



E. pdrvulus, Engelm. A tiny plant, l'-3' high, with lanceolate or 

 spatulate leaves, few-flowered umbels, 9 stamens, and almost pointless 

 akenes. Mass., W. and S. (J) 



