GENUS i. 



WATER-LEAF FAMILY. 



Family 23. HYDROPHYLLACEAE Lindl. Nat. Syst. Ed. 2, 271. 1836. 



WATER-LEAF FAMILY. 



Herbs, mostly hirsute, pubescent or scabrous, with alternate or basal, rarely 

 opposite leaves, and perfect regular 5-parted flowers, in scorpioid cymes, spikes 

 or racemes, or rarely solitary. Calyx inferior, deeply cleft or divided, the sinuses 

 sometimes appendaged. Corolla gamopetalous, funnelform, salverform, campan- 

 ulate, or rotate. Stamens 5, inserted on the tube or base of the corolla, and 

 alternate with its lobes ; filaments filiform ; anthers ovate, oblong, or linear, mostly 

 versatile, 2-celled, the sacs longitudinally dehiscent. Disk annular or none. Ovary 

 superior, 2-celled, or i-celled with 2 placentae; styles 2, separate, or partly united; 

 stigmas small, terminal ; ovules few or numerous, anatropous or amphitropous. 

 Capsule i-2-celled, mostly loculicidally 2-valved, rarely septicidally or irregularly 

 dehiscent. Seeds oblong, globose, or angular, usually pitted, rugose or reticu- 

 lated; endosperm fleshy or cartilaginous; embryo small; cotyledons half-terete 

 or plano-convex. 



About 17 genera and 175 species, mostly natives of western North America. 

 Styles united below; ovary i -celled; leaves mostly lobed or dentate. 



Corolla-lobes convolute (rarely imbricated) in the bud ; placentae dilated. 



Stamens exserted. i. Hydrophyllum. 



Stamens not exserted. 



Sinuses of the calyx appendaged. 2. Nemophila. 



Calyx much enlarged in fruit, its sinuses not appendaged. 3. Nyctelea. 



Corolla-lobes imbricated in the bud ; placentae narrow. 4- Phacelia. 



Styles distinct to the base ; ovary 2-celled ; leaves entire. 5 Nama. 



I. HYDROPHYLLUM [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 146. 1753. 



Perennial or biennial herbs, with large lobed pinnatifid or pinnately divided leaves, and 

 rather large, white blue or purple flowers, in terminal or lateral peduncled more or less 

 scorpioid cymes. Calyx deeply 5-parted, the segments lanceolate or subulate, the sinuses 

 naked or appendaged. Corolla tubular-campanulate or campanulate, 5-lobed, the lobes con- 

 volute in the bud, each with a linear appendage within, which extends to the base of the 

 corolla and is incurved into a groove. Stamens 5, exserted ; filaments pilose below or at the 

 base; anthers linear or oblong, versatile. Ovary i-celled, hispid-pubescent; placentae fleshy, 

 dilated so as to nearly fill the cavity, free from the ovary-wall except at the top and bottom, 

 each enclosing 2 ovules; styles united nearly to the summit. Capsule 2-valved. Seeds 1-4, 

 globose-obovoid. [Greek, water-leaf, referring to the supposed cavity for water in each leaf.] 



About 12 species, natives of North America. Type species: Hydrophyllum virginianum L. 

 Leaves, at least the lower, pinnatifid or pinnately divided. 

 Calyx not appendaged in the sinuses or scarcely so. 



Plant sparingly pubescent; leaf-segments acute. i. H. virginianum. 



Plant villous-hirsute ; leaf-segments blunt. 2. H. macrophyllum. 



Calyx with a reflexed appendage in each sinus. 3. H. appendiculatum. 



Leaves palmately s-Q-lobed. 4. H. canadense. 



i. Hydrophyllum virginianum L. Vir- 

 ginia Water-leaf. Fig. 3484. 



H. virginianum L. Sp. PI. 146. 1753. 



Perennial by scaly rootstocks ; stems slender, 

 glabrous or nearly so, simple or sparingly 

 branched, ascending or erect, rather weak, 

 i-3 long. Lower and basal leaves long- 

 petioled, 6'-io' long, pinnately divided into 5-7 

 oblong ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acute or 

 acutish, sharply toothed or incised segments 

 i '-2' long, glabrous or with few scattered hairs ; 

 upper leaves similar, short-petioled, smaller, 

 with fewer segments ; cymes slender-pedun- 

 cled, simple or forked, dense or at length 

 open ; flowers white or violet, purple, darkest 

 at high altitudes, short-pedicelled; pedicels 

 strigose-pubescent ; calyx-segments narrowly 

 linear, hispid, spreading, the sinuses not ap- 

 pendaged ; corolla about 4" long, its segments 

 erect; capsule globose, nearly 2' in diameter. 



In woods, Quebec to Ontario, South Dakota, 

 South Carolina and Kansas. Ascends to 5000 ft. 

 in North Carolina. Brook-flower. May-Aug. 



