208 



BUTOMACE^E. 



[Endogens. 



Aquatic plants. Leaves very cellular, 



Order LXIV. BUTOMACEiE.— Butomads. 



Butonieae, Richardin Mem. Mus.l. 364. (1815); Endl. Gen. 1. Meisner, Gen. p. 365. Kunth. .Enuro.iii.162- 



Diagnosis. — Alismal Endogens with 3-petaloideoits flowers, and many -seeded netted and 



parietal placentce. 



with parallel veins, often yielding a milky 

 juice. Flowers in umbels or 

 solitary, conspicuous, purple, or 

 yellow, or white. Sepals 3, 

 usually herbaceous. Petals 3, 

 petaloid. Stamens definite or 

 indefinite, hypogynous, some of 

 them occasionally abortive. 

 Ovaries free, 3, 6, or more, either 

 distinct or united into a single 

 mass ; stigmas the same num- 

 ber as the ovaries, simple ; 

 ovules 00, anatropal or campy- 

 lotropal, attached to a parietal 

 network. Achenia or follicles 

 many-seeded, either distinct and 

 rostrate, or united in a single 

 mass. Seeds minute, very nu- 

 merous, attached to the whole 

 of the inner surface of the fruit ; 

 albumen none ; embryo with the 

 same direction as the seed. 



These water plants are rea- 

 dily known by their placenta 

 extending over the whole lining 

 of the fruit, which is formed 

 either of separate or concrete 

 carpels. In this respect there 

 is an evident analogy with 

 Water lilies, which Limnocharis 

 resembles in the structure of its 

 fruit. De Candolle says that no 

 Endogens are lactescent ; but 



5 some of these yield milk in 

 abundance. Limnocharis offers 

 a singular example of a large 

 conspicuous open hole in the 

 apex of its leaf, apparently des- 

 tined by nature as an outlet for 

 superfluous moisture, which i3 

 constantly draining from it. 

 The species are natives of the 



4 marshes of Europe and Siberia, 

 the North Western provinces of 

 India, and equinoctial America. 

 Butomus umbellatus is acrid 

 and bitter ; its rhizome and 

 seeds have been regarded emol- 

 lient, refrigerant and solvent, 

 and were once officinal under 

 The roasted rhizome is eaten in the 



3 2 1 



Pig. CXL. 



tbe name of Radix et Semina Junei floridi. 

 North of Asia. 



Butomopsis, Kth. 



Tenagocharis, Hochst. 



GENERA. 

 Butomus, Town, 

 Hydrocleis, Rich. 



Numbers. Gen. 4 



Limnocharis, //. el B. 



Position. 



Sp. 7. 



Ni/mphceacca. 

 Butomace^j.— 



-Alismacese. 



Fig. CXL. — 1. Hydrocleis Commersoni ; 2. one of the carpels ; .1 

 acentse; 4. seed of Limnocharis Plumieri ; 5. a section of the same. 



placenta; 



3 the same opened to show the 



