ALISMACli.E. (WATEU-PLANTAIN FAMILY.) 491 



shaped. Leaves or some of tliem commonly furnished with a blade, 

 (Flowers perfect, monoecious, or sometimes dioecious.) 



3. Alisnia. Flowers perfect, with definite, mostly 6 stamens. Carpels flattened, whorled. 

 4 l!}cliinocloriis. Flowers perfect, with G - many stamens. Carpels capitate, ribbed. 

 0. Saf;»ltni"«n- Flowers monoecious, rartly dioecious, with indefinite, rarely few stamens. 

 Carpels capitate, flattened, winged. 



1. TRIGLOCHIN, L. Arrow gkass. 



Sepals and petals much alike (grecnishj, ovate, concave, deciduous. Stamens 

 3-6: andiers oval, on very short filaments. Pistils united into a 3 - 6-ccllcd 

 compound ovary : stigmas sessile : ovules solitary. Pod splitting when ripe 

 into 3-6 carpels, which separate from a persistent central axis. — Perennials, 

 with rush-like, fleshy leaves, helovv sheathing the base of the wand-like naked 

 and jointless scape. Flowers small, in a spiked raceme, bractless. (Name 

 composed of rpels, three, and y\oi))(iv, point, from the three points of the ripe 

 fruit in No. 1 when dehiscent.) 



1. T. pallistre, L. Scape (6'- 18' high) a/irf leavs shmler ; fruit linear- 

 cluh-s/iaped ; the 3 carpels when ripe separating from below upwunls leaving a 

 triangular axis, awl-pointed at the base. — Marshes, both fresh and brackish. New 

 York to Illinois, and northward. Aug. (Eu.) 



2. T. maritimum, L. Scape (12' -20' high) ajid leaves thickish, fleshy, 

 fruit oimte or oblong, aciitish, ofG or rareli/ 5 carpels which are rounded at the base 

 and sll(;htli/ grooved on the back; the edges acute. — Salt marshes along the coast, 

 also salt springs in the interior, shore of the Great Lakes, and northward. — 

 Var. elXtum (T. datum, Nutt.) grows in cold and fresh bogs, from W. New 

 York to Wisconsin, often 2^° high, and has the angles of the carpels sharper, 

 or almost winged. (Eu.) 



2. SCHEUCHZERIA, L. Scheuchzeria. 



Sepals and petals oblong, spreading, nearly alike (greenish -yellow), but the 

 latter narrower, persistent. Stamens 6 : anthers linear. Ovaries 3, globular, 

 slightly united at the base, 2-3ovided, bearing flat sessile stigmas, in fruit 

 forming 3 diverging and inflated 1 -2-seedcd pods, opening along the inside. — 

 A low bog-herb, with a creeping jointed rootstock, tapering into the ascending 

 simple stem, which is zigzag, partly sheathed by the bases of the grass-like cou- 

 duplicate leaves, and terminated by a loose raceme of a few flowers, with sheath- 

 ing bracts. (Named for John and John Jacob Scheuchzer, d'latinguMiQd Swiss 

 botanists early in the 18th century.) 



1. S. palustris, L.— Peat-bogs, New England to Pennsylvania, Illinois, 

 and northward. June, July. (Eu.) 



3. ALISMA, L. Water-Plantain. 



Flowers perfect. Petals iiivulute in the bud. Stamens definite, mostly 6. 

 Ovaries many in a simple circle on a flattened receptacle, forming flattened cori- 

 aceous achenia, which are diluted and 2-3-keeled on the back. — Roots fibrous. 



