382 HYDROCHARIDE^. [HYDROCHARIS. 



Ponds and ditches, from Durham to Devon and Kent ; local in Ireland ; fl. 

 July-Aug. Stoloniferous, roots fibrous and bulbiferous. Leaves 1-1 J in. 

 diam., deep green above, reddish beneath. Flowers erect, f-1 in. diam. ; 

 sepals small, oblong; petals broadly obovate, crumpled. Fruit I have not 

 seen. The cells of the testa swell in water and emit a spiral thread. 



2. STRATIO'TES, Z. WATER SOLDIER. 



A stoloniferous submerged herb. Leaves all radical. Flowers subdice- 

 cious, submerged before flowering and when fruiting, floating when in 

 flower, honeyed. Inflorescence and perianth of Hydrocharis, but female 

 flower sessile on a 2-spathed peduncle. MALE fl. Stamens many, filaments 

 subulate, 12 antheriferous ; anthers linear. FEMALE. Staminodes many, 

 a few antheriferous. Ovary compressed with a narrow neck, and fruit as 

 in Hydrocharis ; ovules anatropous. DISTRIB. Europe (excl. Greece), 

 Siberia. ETYM. err par turns, a soldier, from the sword- like foliage. 



S. aloi'des, leaves tapering spinous-serrate. 



Ponds and ditches in E. of England from Northumbd. to Suffolk and 

 Northampton, and in Lancashire and Cheshire ; naturalized in E. Scotland 

 and Ireland; fl. June-Aug. Leaves 6-18 in., spreading, base -| in. diam., 

 rigid, brittle, deep green, many-nerved. Peduncles axillary, short, stout. 

 Flowers 1^ in. diam. Fruit decurved at right angles to the peduncle, 

 flagon-shaped, 6-gonous, green ; carpels separating. Seeds with a mucous 

 coat. 



2*. ELODEA, Michx. WATER-THYME. 



Stem slender, submerged, elongate, branched. Leaves in whorls of 3 

 (rarely 4), lower opposite. Flowers subdioecious, axillary, solitary, sessile ; 

 spathe tubular, slender, 2-lipped. Sepals and petals 3 each, small, green. 

 MALE. Stamens 3-9, filaments short or ; anthers oblong. FEMALE. 

 Tube of perianth long, slender. Staminodes 3 or 6, sometimes antheri- 

 ferous. Ovary 1-celled ; style slender, adnate to the perianth- tube, 

 stigmas 3 ; ovules few, orthotropous, placentas 3 parietal. Berry oblong, 

 1-celled, few-seeded. DISTRIB. Temp, and trop. climates : species 8. 

 ETYM. iA8?7s, growing in watery places. 



E. CANAUEN'SIS, Michx. ; leaves linear- or lanceolate-oblong serrulate, 

 Anach'aris Alsinas'trum, Bab. ; Udo'ra canaden'sis, Nutt. 

 Ponds, ditches, and streams, from Aberdeen to Cornwall and Kent ; introduced 

 from America into County Down about 1836, and into England about 1841 ; 

 fl. May-Oct. Dark green, pellucid. Stem 1-4 ft., brittle, terete, rooting at 

 the nodes. Leaves J-| in., sessile, acute, margined. Flowers floating, \ in. 

 diam., greenish-purple, tube of female 4-8 in., capillary. Sepals boat- 

 shaped. Petals recurved. Stigmas long, terete, notched. Male hitherto 

 found near Edinburgh only. DISTRIB. N. America. i 



