122 



LlllOCAULACEyE. 



[ENDOGKHS. 



ORDER XXXIII. ERIOCAULACEiE.--PiPEwoms. 



Kriocaulonc*. L. C. Richard m H. B. K. Nov. Gen. ct Sp. PI. 1. 251. (1815) ; Desvaux mJnn. Sc. 13. 

 36. ; Martins in Act. Acad. Cat. Nat. cur. 17. ; Endl. Gen. xlvi. ; Meisner. gen. p. 407 ; Knocau- 

 lea;, Kunth. mum. 3. 493. ; Act. Acad. Wisseneh. Berlin, Febr. 1841. 



Diagnosis.— Gtomal Endogcns, with a 2-3-celled ovary, a pendulous ovule, 2-celled anthers, 

 a terminal embryo, andaZ-lobed cup within the glumes. 



Perennial marsh-plant?, with linear cellular spongy leaves sheathing at the hase. 

 Flowers capitate, bracteate, very minute, $ $ . Glumes two, 

 unilateral, or 3. A membranous tube, with 2 or 3 teeth or 

 lobes, surrounds the ovary. Ovary superior 3- or 2-celled ; 

 ovules solitary, orthotropal ; style very short ; stigmas as 

 numerous as the cells of the ovary. Dehiscence of the capsule 

 luculicidal. Seeds solitary, pendulous, coated with wings or 

 rows of hairs. Embryo more or less lenticular, lying upon the 

 albumen at the end of the seed most remote from the hilum. 



This order is usually combined with Restiaceae (or Cord- 

 leafs) from which, in a memoir in the 17th vol. of the 

 Nova Acta, Von Martius separates it on the following 

 grounds. Restiacese : Flowers in spikes. Calyx glumaceous 

 V- Stamens in a single row, 1-3, opposite the 

 petals ; anthers generally 1-celled. Seeds with 

 out rows of hairs. Eriocaulaceae : Flowers 

 in heads, unisexual. Calyx sepaloideous £\. 

 Stamens 3, 6, 2, 4 ; if in two rows, with the 

 inner row most developed ; anthers 2-celled. 

 Seeds solitary, with rows of hairs. The most 

 important distinctions seem to consist in the 

 presence among the Pipeworts of a membra- 

 nous tube, which may be regarded as the 

 most distinct approach, in the Glumal Alliance, 

 to the corolla of the petaloid series, and in the 

 anthers being 2-celled, not 1-celled ; a further 

 indication of a higher order of development. 

 Xyrids, with a perfect corolla, may be re- 

 garded as the link which connects these plants 

 with some of the more perfect orders of En- 

 dogens. 



Many remarkable species are figured by 

 Bongard in Memoirs of the Imperial Academy 

 of St. Pctcrsburgh, 6th seines, \.p. 601., &c. 



A large number of species is collected under 



this head ; all of which are amphibious or 



aquatic. According to Endlicher, two-thirds 



are found in the tropics of America, and half the remainder in the north of New Holland. 



A few occur in North America, and one is found in Great Britain, in the isle of Skye. 



Eriocaulon setaceum, boiled in oil, is said to be a popular remedy for the itch in the 



East Indies. 



Fig. LXXX1I. 



I.aclmocaulun, Kth. 

 Eriocaulon, /,. 



Dupatya, PI. Bum. 



Jiatmythia, lluds. 



GENERA. 



Randalia, Petiv. 

 Spheerochloa, Palis. 



Leucocepliala, Jioxb. 

 Paepalanthus, Mart. 



Tonina, Aubl. 



Byphydra, Schreb. 

 Philodice, Mart. 



Cladocaulon, Gardn. 

 Stephanophyllum, Gtiill. 

 ? Symphachne, Palisot. 



Numijers. Gen. 9. Sp. 'JHO (Kunth). 



Juucaccaz. 

 Position. — Restiaceae, — Eriocai'lacej?. 

 XyridacctB. 



: \\\ll -Tonina fluviatilis. !■ $ flower; 2. centre of do. 

 ; e fruit ; 5. seed ; 6. section of do. — Martini, 



3 ? an c? flowers ; 4. section 



