ISO 



ELATINACEjE. 



[Hypogynous Exogens. 



Order CLXXXI. ELATINACEiE.— Water-Peppers. 



Elatine*, iLbm&i in MM. Mus. 18. 225. ,1829, ;•£*** ***$££ Tt^f- ISmS" 

 1 42 (1832)' Fischer and Meyer in Ltnneea, x. 69. (1835); JK'pftt lUusti . 1. t. ^o , i$n<w. uen. 

 ccxix. ; Meis'ner Gen. p. 131 ; F«n*J DarsMlung, $e., p. 30. 

 Diagnosis.— itetaJ feoz/ews, wftA a many-seeded fruit which is finally apocarpous, and 



polypetalous flowers. 

 Little annuals, growing in marshy places, with fistular rooting stems. Leaves oppo- 

 site with stipules between the petioles. Sepals 3-5, imbricated, distinct, or slightly con- 



nate at the base. Petals of the same num- 

 ber as the sepals, imbricated, hypogynous. 

 Stamens hypogynous, usually twice as 

 numerous as the petals. Ovary with from 

 3 to 5 cells, an equal number of styles, and 

 capitate stigmas ; ovules 00, anatropal. 

 Fruit capsular, 3-5-celled, opening at the 

 sutures, crowned by the styles ; the valves 

 either flat at the edge, or rolled inwards 

 and alternating with the angles of a central 

 placenta. Seeds 00, without albumen, 

 wrinkled transversely, cylindrical, with a 

 straight embryo, whose radicle is turned 

 to the hilum, which is at one end of the 

 seed. 



This little Order was established by Cain- 

 bessedes, who distinguished it from Alsin- 

 acese, with which a part had been con- 

 founded, by its capitate stigmas, the 

 dehiscence of its fruit, the small quantity 

 of albumen, and the straight, not curved, 

 embryo. It does not, however, appear 

 that the Water-peppers have any imme- 

 diate relation to the Silenal Alliance, of 

 which Alsinace* form a part. On the contrary, the species agree much tetterwifl 

 Tutsans (Hypericum) even in the presence in the leaves of receptacles of resmoiri 

 secretions ;'but they differ in having a persistent central axis in the fruit and dehn to 

 stamens, on which totter account they fall into the ranks of the .Ratal rather than _ the 

 Guttiferal Alliance. This view of their affinity seems confirmed by the .curious genus 

 Tetradiclis, a Syrian plant, with the habit of a Tiltea, on which account it has heen even 

 referred to the Order of Houseleeks by Bunge (Linnva, xiv 177). It to remarks hie 

 for havin- in each cell of its fruit two seeds enveloped in the laminated sides of the dtoj 

 sepimente, which sides adhere to the seeds, and seem as if they were *^ a P"*°| 

 them ; the other seeds, however, are naked, and he in the space between Jhe lateial 

 seeds. If it were not for this singular breaking up of the tissue of ihe du s pmientei 

 Elatine would be very near Tetradiclis. Now, there can be no doubt of the ktter ge u> 

 being a member of the Rutal Alliance ; but its numerous seeds attached to twounvhH 

 free placenta forbid its being stationed in Rueworts whither Mr. Fenzl has referredj 

 lUnnma xv ^95) or in Bean Capers, among which I had assigned it a doubtful place 

 uf Stany (sSl unpublished) of Col. Chlney's Expedition to the Euphrates I 

 falls, however, well into the Order of Water-peppers, and contributes to confirm the 



'ToulTLtalesln^feur quarters of the globe. The Elatine. are natives of 

 Euro? I and Asia, Bergias of the Cape of Good Hope and the East Indies, Memnea of 

 South America, and Tetradiclis of the Syrian region. Tom , M _. 

 Dr. Wight says that in India the little Bergia ammanmo.des bears the Tamool .un e 

 of Neer-mel-neripoo, or Water-fire, which seems a curious coincidence w, ith the : wort 

 Water-pepper, given in English to Elatine, and seems to indicate a popular belief I 

 these plants possessing some acridity. 



Fig. CCCXXXII.-Elatine hydropiper.-So««r6y. 1. a flower ; 2. a capsule after splitting ; 3. Ha 

 placenta ; 4. and 5. seeds. 



Fig.CCCXXXII. 





