LENTIBTJLACE^:. (BLADDERWORT FAMILY.) 317 



8. CENTUNCULUS, L. CHAFFWEED. 



Calyx 4 - 5-parted. Corolla shorter than the calyx, 4 - 5-cleft, wheel-shaped, 

 with an urn-shaped short tube, usually withering on the summit of the pod 

 (which is like that of Anagallis). Stamens 4 or 5 : filaments beardless. 

 Small annuals, with alternate entire leaves, and solitary inconspicuous flowers 

 in their axils. (Derivation obscure.) 



1 . C. minimus, L. Stems ascending (2' - 5' long) ; leaves ovate, obovate, 

 or spatulate-oblong ; flowers nearly sessile, the parts mostly in fours. (C. lan- 

 ceolatus, Michx.) Low grounds, Illinois and southward. (Eu.) 



9 . S A M O LIT S , L. WATER PIMPERNEL. BROOK-WEED. 



Calyx 5-cleft ; the tube adherent to the base of the ovary. Corolla somewhat 

 bell-shaped, 5-cleft, commonly with 5 sterile filaments in the sinuses. True 

 stamens 5, on the tube of the corolla, included. Pod 5-valved at the summit, 

 many-seeded. Smooth herbs, with alternate entire leaves, and small white 

 flowers in racemes. (" According to Pliny, an ancient Druidical name.") 



1. S. Valerandi, L. Stem erect (6' -12' high), leafy; leaves obovate; 

 bracts none ; bractlets on the middle of the slender ascending pedicels ; calyx- 

 lobes ovate, shorter than the corolla. (Eu.) 



Var. Americanus, Gray. More slender, becoming diffusely branched; 

 racemes often panicled, the pedicels longer and spreading ; bractlets, flowers, 

 and pods smaller. (S. floribundus, H. B. K.) Wet places : common. June- 

 Sept. 



10. HOTTONIA, L. FEATHERFOIL. WATER VIOLET. 



Calyx 5-parted, the divisions linear. Corolla salver-shaped, with a short 

 tube; the limb 5-parted. Stamens 5, included. Pod many-seeded, 5-valved; 

 the valves cohering at the base and summit. Seeds attached by their base, 

 anatropous. Aquatic perennials, with the immersed leaves pectinate, and the 

 erect hollow flower-stems almost leafless. Flowers white or whitish, whorled at 

 the joints, forming a sort of interrupted raceme. (Named for Prof. Notion, a 

 botanist of Leyden, in the 17th century.) 



, 1. H. inflata, Ell. Leaves dissected into thread-like divisions, scattered 

 on the floating and rooting stems, and crowded at the base of the cluster of pe- 

 duncles, which are strongly inflated between the joints (often as thick as one's 

 finger) ; pedicels short. Pools and ditches, New England to Kentucky, and 

 southward. June - Aug. 



ORDER 65. UENTIBUlACEJE. (BLADDERWORT FAMILY.) 



Small herbs (growing in water or wet places), with a 2-lipped calyx, and a 

 2-lipped personate corolla, 2 stamens with (confluenlly) one-celled anthers, 

 and a one-celled ovary with a free central placenta, bearing several anatro- 

 pous seeds, with a thick straight embryo, and no albumen. Corolla deeply 

 2-lipped, spurred at the base in front ; the palate usually bearded. Ovary 



