Ill DB 



MVI)U<« IIAIil! 



41 





t XXXIX. ll\ DROOHARIDAi BJS. H 



Bydi «hai ' 1788 Bydrocbarldi i D( I 



.in 1810) ; J Mus. vol. I. 38 •. L815 - 



md Stratiotese, I ■■■■• H mdb. l 281. Li 

 . p. Id. 



Diagnosis. Eydral Endogens with epigynous stamens cm y. 



I tting or water-plants. Leaves with parallel reins, sometimes Bpiny. I 

 enclosed in a spathe, $ <j? (or occasionallj Sepals 3, h 



loid, occasionallj absent Stamens definite or indefinite. < (vary adhi r« nt,comp< 

 several carpels, and 1- 6 8- 9-celled ; stigmas 3-6 ; ovules indefinite, 

 anatropal, often parietal Fruit dry or Bucculent, indehiscent, with 1 

 or more cellB. Seeds without albumen ; embryo undn ided, orthotro- 



pal, with a plumule ■• or less lateral and generally manifest 



Such appear to be the essential characteristics of this singular 

 group of plants, whose inflon sci ace lives and passes through all the 

 stages of its exist* uce under wati r, i ta pi just at the time when fer- 

 tilization is in ceesary, when the flowers rise above the surface for a 

 few h turs. Darwin has celebrated the so-called phenomena conn 

 with this function in Valisneria spiralis, (see his I 

 but they are greatly in need of more accurate investigation. Mr. Que- 

 krit, mi an elaborate memoir on this plant, {London Phys. Journ. 1. 

 65,) d Qsiders that a part at least of the statements are fabulous. 



I I is not easj to d< termine what is the immediate affinity of II 

 charads. Their i xalbuminous seeds and diclinous flow< rs distinguish 

 them from Bri te, to which their adherent ovary, and the 

 habit of thf Water-soldier (Stratiotes) seems to approach them; 

 from Naiads, their indefinite Beeds and adherent ovary equally 

 divide them. By their tripetaloideous flowers, with an in 

 ovary, the) arc separated from Alismads, with which some 

 in habit and want "I albumen, but from which they differ in their car- 

 pellarj leaves being definite, not indefini I imelynaci 

 once recognised by their superior trilocular ovary. Agardh i 

 hire Trapa I Linntens placed rlydrocharads along witli Palms! 

 in his natural arrangement. Hydrocharis Morsus Kami- has been 

 compared, and not unaptly, to a pigmy Nymphsea. Pi rhaps, taking 

 into account their diclinous flowers, the universal presence "I a 

 spathe and their aquatic nature, they may be regarded as approaching 

 to \ rads through Lemnads. 



Natives of fresh water in Europe, North America, and the I ■• 

 Indies. One species is found in Egypt (Da- 

 masonium indicum), and two Vallisnerias in 

 New Holland. A few occur in estuaries of 

 the >• a 



Nothing is known <>t' their uses, unless that 

 the fruit of Enhalus is eatable, and its fil 

 capable of being woven, according to Agardb 

 (Aph, ['28). The Jangi of Hindostan, called 

 Valhsneria alternifolia bj Roxburgh, Hydrilla 3 

 by Hamilton, is one of the plants used in I 

 For supplying water mechanically n> sugar in 



*i l * 



the process ol refining it, •• as clay i- used in 

 tlie West Indies to permit the slow percola- 

 tion of water." Royli . The herbage of Hy - 

 drocharis Morsua Kan:e is mucilagmous and 

 slightly astringent Ottilia and Boottia are 

 oaten in India as potherbs. 





A 





\> in. 



XCITI.— Stratiotes aloides. 1. a flower and s] 

 spathe; *. :'■ section of the fruit ; .'>. an ein 



■ 



