454 WATER PLANTAIN FAMILY. 



2. TRADESCANTIA, SPIDER WORT. (Named for the gardener- 

 botanist Tradescant.) Leaves sheathed at the base. Jl 



* Umbels sessile at the end of the stem and branches between a pair of 



leaves, or later also in the lower axils flowering in summer. 



T. Virgfnica, Linn. W. N. Y., W. and S.; also in gardens; leaves 



lance-linear, tapering regularly from the base to the point, ciliate ; umbels 



terminal ; flowers blue, in garden varieties purple or white. There are 



forms with broader leaves, lower stature, and pubescent stems and leaves. 



* # Umbels one or two on a naked peduncle. 



T. rdsea, Vent. Sandy woods, Md., S. and W. ; slender, 6'-12' high, 

 smooth, with linear, grass-like leaves, and rose-colored flowers ' wide. 



3. ZEBRINA. (Name refers to the stripes often present on the leaves.) 

 Z. pendula, Schnitzl. (TRADESCANTIA ZEBRINA and T. TRICOLOR). 



WANDERING JEW. Common in greenhouses and window baskets ; 

 spreads by branching and rooting freely; the lance-ovate or oblong 

 rather succulent leaves crimson beneath, and green or purplish above, 

 often variegated with two broad stripes of silvery white. Mexico. 2/ 



CXXII. ALISMACKE, WATER PLANTAIN FAMILY. 



Marsh herbs, with flowers on scapes or scape-like stems, in 

 panicles, racemes, or spikes, with distinct calyx and corolla, 

 viz. 3 persistent green sepals and 3 conspicuous white petals, 

 and many distinct pistils which are 1-celled and mostly 1- 

 ovuled ; stamens 6 or more, on the receptacle. Flowers long- 

 stalked, loosely racemed or panicled, with dry lanceolate bracts 

 at the base. Fruit an akene in ours. Leaves sheathing, some- 

 times reduced to petioles. Juice sometimes milky. 



1. ALISMA. Flowers perfect, loosely panicled. Petals involute in the bud. Stamens 6. 



Ovaries many, in a ring, very flat-sided, becoming coriaceous flat akenes, 2-3-keeled 

 on the back. 



2. ECHINODORUS. Flowers perfect, in proliferous umbels. Petals imbricated in the 



bud. Stamens 9 or more. Ovaries heaped in a head, becoming wingless akenes. 



3. SAGITTARIA. Flowers monoecious, rarely dioecious or polygamous, in successive 



whorls, the sterile at the summit of the scape ; the lowest fertile. Stamens usually 

 numerous. Ovaries very many, heaped on the globular receptacle, in fruit becom- 

 ing flat and winged akenes. 



1. ALISMA, WATER PLANTAIN. (The old Greek name, of un- 

 certain meaning.) Flowers all late summer. 



A. Plantago, Linn. Shallow water ; leaves long-petioled, varying 

 from ovate or oblong-heart-shaped to lanceolate, 3-5-ribbed ; panicle l-2 

 long, of very many and loose, small, white flowers. Variable. % 



2. ECHINODORUS. (From Greek words for prickly flask, the head 

 of fruit being as it were prickly-pointed by the styles, but hardly so in 

 our species.) The following occur in muddy or wet places ; flowers sum- 

 mer ; the flowering shoots or scapes mostly proliferous and creeping. 



E. parvulus, Engelm. A tiny plant, l'-3' high, with lanceolate or 

 spatulate leaves, few-flowered umbels, 9 stamens, and almost pointless 

 akenes. Mass., W. and S. 



