ORDER 125. PODOSTEMIACE^E. 657 



Genera 4, species 7, natives of China and North America, growing in marshes and pools. 

 Properties Unimportant. 



SAURITRUS, L. LIZARD-TAIL. (Gr. oavpa, a lizard, oupa, a tail; 

 alluding to the form of the inflorescence.) Inflorescence an ament or 

 spike of 1 -flowered scales ; stamens 6, 7, 8 or more ; anthers adnate to 

 the filaments; ovaries 4; berries 4, 1-seeded. 2 St. angular. Lvs. 

 cordate, acuminate, petiolate. 



S. cernuus "Willd. Common in marshes, U. S. and Can. St. H to 2f high, weak, 

 furrowed. Lvs. 4 to 6' long and half as wide, smooth and glaucous, with promi- 

 nent veins beneath and on petioles 1 to 2' long. Spikes slender, drooping at 

 summit, longer than the leaf. Scales tubular, cleft above, white. Fls. very small 

 and numerous, sessile, consisting only of the long stamens, and the ovaries with 

 their recurved stigmas. JL, Aug. 



ORDER CXXIY. CALLITRICIIACE^E. STARWORT. 



Herbs aquatic, small, with opposite, simple, entire leaves. Flowers axillary, soli- 

 tary, very minute, polygamous, achlamydeous, with 2 colored bracts. Stamen 1, 

 rarely 2 ; filament slender ; anthers 1-celled, 2-valved, reniform. Ovary 4-celled, 

 4-lobed ; ovules solitary. Styles 2 ; stigmas simple points. Fruit 1-celled, 4-seeded, 

 indehiscent. Seeds peltate, albuminous. 



Genus 1, species G, growing in stagnant waters, both of Europe and America. 



CALLIT'RICHE, L. (Gr. KaM?, beautiful, 0pl rp^o?, hair; allud- 

 ing to the slender stems.) Character the same as that of the order. (I) 



1 C. verna L. Floating ; Ivs. obovate-spatulate, 3-nerved, the lower more narrow 

 or linear ; fls. subsessile ; bracts 2, longer than the ovary fr. obtusely margined, 

 obcordate. A little aquatic, common in pools and ditches. Sts. numerous, slen- 

 der, consisting of 2 tubes, 8 to 12 to 20' long, according to the depth of the water. 

 Lvs. 4 to 6" long, with the tapering base, \ to 2" wide, the floating broadest. 

 The fls. solitary, rarely 2 in the axil, the outer a stamen only. Bracts white. Sta- 

 men posterior, yellow, styles 2, filiform, anterior. Caps. -'' long, suboval. Apr. 

 JL (C. intermedia Willd. C. heterophylla Ph. C. aquatica Bw.) 



2 C. atituixiiialis L. Floating', Ivs. all linear, \-nerved, or the highest linear- 

 spatulate ; fls. subsessilo ; bracts shorter than the ovary or none ; fr. oval, acutely 

 margined. In similar situations with the first, S. States, less common. Sts. 1 to 

 2f long. Lvs. 5 to 7" long, often bifid, a few of the highest 3-veined. May 

 Sept. (C. linearis Ph.) 



3 C. terrestris Raf. Sts. short, diffuse, prostrate ; Ivs. very small, oblong, all 

 similar , fls. sessile, 2-bracted ; fruit broader than long, deeply obcordate, 2-winged 

 on the margins. A much smaller species, on the muddy borders of ponds, cover- 

 ing the surface. Sts. 1 to 2' long. Lvs. 1 to 2" long, Fr. " long. Jn. Aug. 

 (C. brevifolia Ph. C. platycarpa Kutz.) 



ORDER CXXV. PODOSTEMIACEJE. THREADFOOTS. 



Herbs aquatic with the habit of seaweeds, with alternate, dissected leaves, with 

 flowers minute, perfect, naked or with 3 sepals, stamens 1 or many, hypogynous. 

 Ovary compound, 2 to 3-celled, with as many stigmas, and numerous ovules. Fruit 

 a many-seeded capsule, ribbed and somewhat pedicelled. Albumen none. 



Genera 20, species 100, frequent in S. America and E. India, 1 only in N. America. Thej all 

 grow in running water, attached to stones like the following species. 



PODOSTE V MUM, L. C. Rich. THREADFOOT. RIVER WEED. (Gr. 

 rrovg, rnxSof, a foot, GTTftiuv ; the stamens being apparently on a com- 

 mon foot-stalk,) Stamens 2, with the filaments united below ; ovary 



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