200 



ALISMACE.E. Alisma. 



sometimes without Llado ; flowers long-pedicellate, mostly verticillate, in a loose 

 raceme or panicle, with lanceolate scarions bracts slightly connate at base. 



An order of 4 pencm ami iicihaps 50 siiecies, sparingly clistiibnteil through the tuiniicmto ami 

 tropical regions ol' the globe. 



» Flowers perfect : stamens usually 6 : carpels verticillate. 



1. Alisma. Carpels numerous, distinct, ohovate-oblong, llattcned. 



2. Damasouiuin. Carpels to 12, united at base, acuminate and radiately divergent. 



» ♦ Stamens rarely few : carpels capitate. 



3. Echinodorus. Flowers perfect. Carpels several to many, turgid and ribbed, often lx>ake(l. 



4. Sagittaria. Flowers montccious or dia^cious. Carpels numerous, llattcned and niendjranously 



winged. 



1. ALISMA, Linn. W.\teu-Pi,antain. 

 Flowers perfect. Petals small. Stamens G, rarely more, with short tilaments. 

 Ovaries distinct, numerous, on a disk-like receptacle, 1-ovuled ; style very short, 

 ventral. Akenes in a crowded Avhorl, obovate-oblong, flattened, obtuse, somewhat 

 channelled on the back. — Perennial herbs, in shallow water or mud, with small 

 flowers in a verticillately branched panich;. 



Alx)ut a dozen si)ecies, distributed through the northern temperate zone and tropical America ; 

 represented in the United States only by the following. 



1. A. PlantagO, Linn. Stout; scape a foot or two high, diflusely paniculate 

 above: leaves ovate to oblong or lanceolate, often somewhat ct)rdate at base, acute, 

 usually 7-nerved, 2 to 8 inches long, when growing in water .sometimes narrowly 

 lanceolate or linear : petals scarcely exceeding the sepals, a line long or less, white 

 or pinkish : carpels forming a circular or somewliat triangular whorl 2 or 3 lines in 

 diameter. — Reichenb. Icon. Fl. Germ. vii. t. 57. 



About San Francisco and throughout Northern California to Uritii^h Columbia, and eastward 

 across the continent ; also throughout Europe and noithern Asia, and in Australia. The nio^t 

 common species, and very variable as respects foliage, the forms being determined chiclly by the 

 place of growth and not deserving to rank as varieties. 



2. DAMASONIUM, Juss. 



Flowers perfect. Stamens 6, with slender filaments. Ovaries 6 to 12, united by 

 the short ventral side, flattened, ovate and attenuate upward, 1 - 2-ovuled ; stigma 

 terminal. Akenes long-acuminate, radiately and horizontally divergent. — Perennial 

 herbs, with the habit of Alisma, but scapes simple. 



Two or three other species occur in the Mediteirancan region, and one in Australia. 



1. D. Californicum, Torrey. Scapes usually nu)re than one, from a somewhat 

 enlarged base, (3 to 1« inches high: leaves witJi usually much elongated slender 

 petioles, the blade ovate to narrowly lanceolate, 1 to 3 inches long, acutisli or obtuse, 

 3_5.iierved : flowers in 3 or 4 whorls, on pedicels an inch or two long: petals 3 or 

 4 lines long, rounded, incised at the summit, exceeding the oblong obtu.se sepals : 

 carpels usually 8 or 9, abruptly narrowed to a long rigid beak, much compiessed, 4 

 or 5 lines long, 1 -seeded. — Pacif. P. l{ep. iv. 112, t. 21 ; ]}enth. PI. Ilartw. 311. 

 Alisma Cdli/oniiat, Holander, Cat. 20. 



Valleys in the Sierra Nevada ; lone Valley, Amador County, in water (Bigclow) ; Sierra Valley 

 (Leinmoa) ; also found by IIartwc<j. 



3. ECHINODORUS, Richard. 

 Flowers perfect. Petals small. Stamens 6 to many, with short slender filaments. 

 Ovaries usually numerous, crowded in a globose head, distinct, more or less attenuate 



