Phnfs of the Punjab. 



637 



WATER PLANTS, 

 Herbs with Alternate Exstipulatb Simple Leaves, 



Petals none, 



Typha Laxmannl, 



Typhace^. 

 F. B. I. vi. 489. 

 Kashmir, 9,000 ft. 

 Baluchistan. 



like the last species, but much smaller, stem 2-8 ft., 

 leaves slender, half cylindric at the sheath, male spikes 

 1-2 in., female f-1 by J4 ^', ^^^^^ very short, shorter than 

 the styles. 



Sparganlum 



ramosum, 



Burweed, 



Typhaceje. 

 F B Lvi.490, 

 The Plains to 

 5 000 ft. 

 Kashmir. 



rootstock creeping, stem 1-4 ft., erect, leafy ; leaves 

 2-6 ft., 1 in. or less, broad, linear, margins concave, 8-edged 

 at the base ; flowers in round heads with leafy bracts below^ 

 male and female in separate heads, heads sessile on the 

 branches of a panicle, male heads olive brown, |-f in, 

 diam., soon falling ofT, male flowers of 2-3 stamens sur- 

 rounded by 8-6 membranous linear scales, female heads 

 1 in. diam., in fruit, female flowers of one persistent style 

 with a unilateral stigma surrounded by 8-6 thin linear 

 scales ; drupe J in. long, angled, sessile, shortly beaked. 



PIstia Stratiotes, 



Jalkhumhi. 

 ABOiDEiE or 

 Abacace^. 

 F. B. I. vi. 497, 

 The Plains. 



perennial, stemless, floating in the still fresh water, 

 bearing runners, tuft of simple white rootlets and leaves ; 

 leaves 1^-4 in. long, apex rounded or broadly notched, wavy, 

 velvety above and below, together forming an erect cup ; 

 flowers minute, sessile on a stalk (spadix) within a white 

 sheath (spathe) | in. long, spathe obliquely bell-shaped^ 

 woolly without, pouched, closed below, contracted about 

 the middle, the spadix jo'ned to the back of the tube of the 

 spathe below, male and female flowers on one spadix, male 

 above, female below, neuter between, male flowers consist 

 of a few sessile united stamens or rather anthers beneath 

 the top of the spadix, anthers with vertical slits, a ring of 

 minute neuters below them, female flowers consist of a 

 solitary conical ovoid, one-celled ovarj'', a conical style 

 with a discoid stigma ; fruit membranous, few seeded, 

 seeds oblong or ovoid with a broad top. The plant is sup- 

 posed to purify water, the leaves are demulcent, and the 

 oot laxative. 



