80 ALISMACEAE ( WATER-PLANTAIN FAMILY) 



1. Scheuchzeria. Ovaries 3, nearly distinct, at length divergent. Flowers bracteate, in a loose 



raceme upon a leafy stem. 



2. Triglochin. Ovaries 3-6, united until maturity. Leaves radical. Flowers bractless, in a 



spike-like raceme terminating a jointless scape. 



1. SCHEUCHZERIA L. 



Sepals and petals oblong, spreading, nearly alike (greenish yellow), but the 

 latter narrower, persistent. Stamens 6 ; anthers linear. Ovaries 3, globular, 

 slightly united at base, 2-3-ovuled, bearing flat sessile stigmas, in fruit forming 

 3 diverging and inflated 1-2-seeded pods, opening along the inside. A low bog- 

 herb, with a creeping jointed rootstock, tapering into the ascending simple stem, 

 which is zigzag, partly sheathed by the bases of the grass-like conduplicate 

 leaves, and termimated by a loose raceme of a few flowers, with sheathing 

 bracts ; leaves tubular at the apex. (Named for Johann and Johann Jacob 

 Scheuchzer, distinguished Swiss botanists early in the 18th century.) 



1. S. palustris L. Peat-bogs, and wet shores, e. Que. to N. J., westw. 

 across the continent. June. (Eurasia.) 



2. TRIGL6CHIN L. ARROW GRASS 



Sepals and petals nearly alike (greenish), ovate, concave, deciduous. Sta- 

 mens 3-6 ; anthers oval, on very short filaments. Pistils united into a 3-6- 

 celled compound ovary ; stigmas sessile ; ovules solitary. Capsule splitting 

 when ripe into 3-6 carpels, which separate from a persistent central axis. 

 Perennials, with rush-like fleshy leaves below sheathing the base of the wand- 

 like naked and jointless scape. Flowers small, in a spiked raceme, bractless. 

 (Name composed of rpeis, three, and y\c*xh, point, from the three points of the 

 ripe fruit in no. 3 when dehiscent.) 



Fruit thicker than long 1. T. striata. 



Fruit longer than thick. 



Fruit (with 3-6 carpels) ovoid-prismatic, about twice as long as thick . . 2. T. maritima. 



Fruit (3-carpelled) clavate- or linear-prismatic, 3-5 times as long as thick . . 3. T. palustris. 



1. T. striata R. & P. Scape (8-34 cm. high) and leaves slender ; flowers 

 very small ; sepals and stamens 3 ; fruit globose-triangular, or when dry 

 3-lobed. ( T. triandra Michx. ) Salt marshes, near seashore, Md. to Fla. and 

 La. (S. A.) 



2. T. maritima L. Scape (1.5-7.5 dm. high) and leaves thickish; fruit 

 ovoid or short-prismatic, acutish ; carpels 3- (more often) 6, rounded at base 

 and slightly grooved on the back, the edges acutish. Salt marshes near the 

 coast, Lab. to N. J., and in saline, boggy, or wet places across the continent. 

 (Eurasia., n. Afr.) 



3. T. palustris L. Scape (5-50 cm. high) and leaves slender ; stamens 6 ; 

 fruit linear-club-shaped; carpels when ripe separating from below upward, 

 leaving a triangular axis, awl-pointed at base. Marshes (usually brackish) 

 and bogs, Greenl. to the coast of s. Me. ; also inland along the St. John and 

 St. Lawrence R., Great Lakes and north westw. (Eurasia.) 



ALISMACEAE (WATER-PLANTAIN FAMILY) 



Marsh herbs, with scape-like stems, sheathing leaves, and perfect, monoecious, 

 or dioecious flowers ; perianth of 3 herbaceous persistent sepals and as many 

 {often conspicuous} white deciduous petals, which are imbricate or involute in 

 bud; stamens 6 or more, included; ovaries numerous, distinct, l-celled and 

 mostly l-ovuled, becoming achenes in fruit (in our genera) ; seeds erect, cam- 

 pylotropous. Roots fibrous ; leaves radical, petiolate and strongly nerved with 

 transverse veinlets, the earlier sometimes without blade ; flowers long-pedicellate, 



