a supposed new British Plant. 83 



cal3'cinis ovato-oblongis ; interioribus petaloideis linearibus, aut 



nuUis. Stamina 9 ; tilamenta basi in columnam brevem connata ; 



antherse oblongae, basi affixse, loculis connective angusto sejunctis. 



— Fern. Spatha tubulosa, ore paululum dilatato bifido obliquove, uni- 



flora. Perigonii tubus filiformis, elongatus ; limbus sexpartitus, 



laciniis ovalibus, conformibus, exterioribus calycinis, interioribus 



I petaloideis. Staminodia tria, laciniis exterioribus opposita, subulata ; 



; antherae nullae. Ovarium inferum. Stylus setiforrais cum perigonii 



I tubo connatus ; stigmata tria, bifida vel emarginata. Bacca sub- 



) trigona, unilocularis, oligosperma. — Herbae perennes (vel annuse, 



Rich.)*, aquaticse, caulescentes, radicantes. Folia verticillata vel 



opposita, sessilia. Spathse axillares. 



Anacharis, Rich, in Mem. de Vlnstitut, 1811, ii. p. 61. t. 2 (mas). 

 Udora, Nutt. Gen. N. Amer. Plants, ii. 242. 



A. Alsinastrum (nov. sp. ?) ; foliis ternis ovali-oblongis obtusis sub- 

 tilissime serrulatis, spatha floris masculi (ignota), floris feminei 

 tubulosa ovarium sessilem pluries superante apice bifida, perigonii 

 laciniis latis subsequalibus, stigmatibus ligulatis reflexis emargi- 

 natis. 



Hab. In ponds connected with the canal at Foxton Locks 

 near Market Harborough, Leicestershire^ where it was disco- 

 vered by Miss Mary Kirby, flowering sparingly, at the begin- 

 ning of September 1847. 



Plant submersed; stem solid, round, semitransparent, several 

 feet long, branching at irregular and distant points, clothed 

 throughout with whorls of leaves. Leaves three (rarely four) in 

 each whorl, oblong, 3-4 lines long, \^—2 lines broad, obtusely- 

 pointed, minutely and closely serrulate, diaphanous, formed 

 throughout (a continuous semitransparent midrib excepted) of 

 i longitudinal rows of small oblong green cells, of which the two 

 or three marginal rows are colourless and quite transparent ; edge 

 furnished with very minute closely-placed (except towards the 

 \ base, where they are altogether wanting or very distant) spinulose 

 teeth pointing forwards ; end formed of two curves meeting at an 

 obtuse angle and tipped with a spinous point similar to the mar- 

 ' ginal ones ; uppermost leaves blunter than the lower ones, and 

 often quite obtuse ; all spreading at right angles from the stem, 

 their extremity rather rcflexed ; lower internodes about as long 

 as the leaves, lowest much longer and with opposite and short 



* A. callitrichoides. Rich., is expressly stated by that author to be an- 

 nual, our plant is undoubtedly perennial. In a growing plant, now (Dec. 22, 

 1847) before me, the old stem is losing its leaves, which have nearly all 

 ! decayed and fallen ofF, and appears to be itself on the point of death, but 

 ■ several clusters of young shoots have sprung from it, at the base of which 

 j roots are produced. In the spring each of these clusters will probably ap- 

 pear to be an independent young plant. This may account for the supposed 

 [ annual duration of some of the species. 



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