Siujittaria. .lUNCACEvE. 201 



into the tcrniiiial style. Akenes obpyramiJal, sliarply rlbljcd. — j\[o.stly annuals, 



with tbo habit of Sagittaria, the naked stems sparingly l)ranchcd or sinjple, and the 



flowers on rather short pedicels, in whorls of 3 to G or more. 



A genus of 8 or 10 spccios, bolongiiig to tropical America and the Atlantic States. Only one 

 species npproaciics the holders of California. 



1. R rostratUS, Engelm. Annual, with one or more stems from tl>e same root, 

 erect, usually a foot or two high : loaves broadly ovate, cordate or truncate at base, 

 obtuse or acutish, rarely lanceolate with a cuneate base, I to 4 inches long, on rather 

 stout petioles : pedicels half an inch long : petals scarcely exceeding the sei)als, 1 to 

 U lines long: stamens 12 : akenes very numerous, a line long, \vith a beak nearly 

 half as long, 4-5-ribbed and with intermediate veins. — Gray, Manual, 492. ' 



On Mohave Creek {Bi(jdow), and fre(iiient eastward from Texas to Illinois and Florida. 



4. SAGITTARIA, Linn. Arrow-head. 

 Flowers moncocious (or sometimes di(ecious), the staminato ones above. Petals 

 usually conspicuous. Stamens numerous, rarely few. Ovaries very many, crowded 

 in globose heads, distinct. Akenes flat and membranously winged, abruptly beaked 

 by the very short style. — Stoloniferous perennials, with milky juice, broadly sheath- 

 ing leaves often without a blade, and mostly simple stems bearing one to few whorls 

 of llowers usually in threes. 



A genua of both the Old and New Worhl, including about 20 species, of whicli lialf are found 

 in the Atlantic States and Texas. But one lias been detected on the Western Coast. 



1. S. variabilis, Engelm. 1. c. Kootstock slender, tuberiferous : scape ^ to 2 feet 

 high or more, angled : leaves very variable, ovate-sagittate or more or less narrowed 

 or even linear, acute, the similar lobes more or less divergent, acuminate; the larger 

 leaves often G inches long or more : petals white, rounded, 4 to G lines long, exceed- 

 ing the sepals : filaments usually as long as or longer than the anthers, attenuate 

 upward : fruiting heads nearly half an inch in diameter : akenes rather broadly ob- 

 ovate, 1 1 lines long, M'ith a conspicuous acute horizontal beak at the upper angle. 



In Pitt River, among tules (Broarr) ; Phinias County (il//-5. ylmrs, Mrs. Austin) and in North- 

 ern Nevada, and northward to Uritisli Columbia; common east of the IJocky Mountains to the 

 Atlantic in numerous i'orms. The large tubers (an inch or more in diameter) are used for food 

 by the Indians. .S". Chinensis, Sims, a very similar species, is cultivated by the Chinese for the 

 same pui]iose, and is reported as introduced by them into California and to have been occasionally 

 found growing in marshes near their settlements. 



Order CXVL JUNCACE^. 



Flowers perfect, with a regidar persistent perianth of G similar glumaceous seg- 

 ments in 2 rows, G nearly hypogynous included stamens (rarely 3) with pei-sistent 

 fiiliforra filaments and 2-celled anthers, and a superior 3-celled ovary (sometimes 

 1-celled with 3 parietal placentae) with 3 or many ascending anatropous ovules, a 

 single very short style, and 3 filiform stigmas (flowers very rarely dimerous through- 

 out) ; capsule loculicidally 3-valved ; seeds with membranous or cellular testa, often 

 caudate or appeudaged ; embryo minute, thick, enclosed within the base of the 

 fleshy albumen. — Rushes or sedge-like herbs, mostly cespitose perennials or with 

 creeping rhizomes, with terete hollow or spongy usually simple stems, and alternate 

 sheathing leaves, either flat, channelled, or terete ; flowers small, usually sessile, 

 scarious-bracteolate, in cj^mes or panicles, subumbellate clusters or spicnte heads. 



