IItobju i - | 



ZOS l l.l; \i . 





ideb XI. I. Z0S1 ERAC1 I 



i .. (mm, ;s. n., 



Diagnosis, Hydrai Endogeruvnthhyi 



Marine plants resembling -■ a weeds and tiring among them. 1. . 

 Bheathing at the base. Flowers very minute, absolutely 

 or surrounded by •"• scales, * ,, arranged within herbaceous 

 gpathes. * Anthers definite in number, one or two-celled, 

 ile ; pollen filamentous, resembling fine . Ovary 



free, one-celled; ovule solitary, pendulous, campylotropal ; or 

 parietal with the foramen downwards ; I or -', capillary. 



Fruit drupaceous, one-seeded. Seed pendulous; albumen U; 

 embryo antitropal or bomotropal, with a verj large radicle, and 

 ;i highly developed plumule lying in its cavity. 



It" we are to find anywhere a positive intercalation of flowering 

 with flowerlesa plants it is here, where with naked flowers, but 

 distil i . we have the pollen in a condition that may I"- well 



compared to the slaters of Marchantia and its alii.-, an. 1 totally l 

 different from all that is known in other flowering phu 

 The habit too is quite that of sea weeds. It ther ma 



expedient to separate these genera from the Naiads, which are 

 an Order higher in organization, and in fact differ in nothing 

 from the common types of flowering structure, except in their 

 simplicity. The manner in which fertilization taki - place ami 

 these plants is unknown. Zostera marina, whose flowers of both 

 - are inclosed in a Bpathe filled with air, offers no 



insuperable difficulty to the supposition that in such a situati 

 although the plants are under water, yet the flowers may be 

 in a dry medium ; but, as Vaucher has observed, this .1 



-t us to understand how fertilization is effected in Zosfc 

 maritima which is dioecious. Does the confervoid pollen float to 

 the place where it is want* .1 I 



The bottom of the ocean is the locality of these plant-, which 

 occur from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, the Indian Oci 

 and tho of Arabia. One species indeed, Amphibolis 



Bostersafolia, is -< . n on the shores ol New Holland, and anotb 

 in the West Lnd g 



They can scarcely be said to form any part of the vegetation 

 subdued by nun, except in the case of the Sea wrack, / 

 marina, which is a common material for packing, and for stuffing 

 gers' cushions, and has also been used for tumours, owing 

 apparently to the iodine of the Bea weeds that are gathered 

 with it. 







looea, Konig. 



A III | 'hit 



OraumuiU ro, Rchb. 



QENERA. 



I 



. DC. 



Numbers. Gen. 5. Sp. 12(Kunth). 



Position. 



.— ZOST] B m I ' . N 



Ma 



\< \ 



\i v.- Zi • - . n tlL I. An anther; - 

 lowi rs :.on ol the ovarj ; ; 



aatbu opened and dist confervoid | 



N 



