360 LEMNACE^. (duckweed P^AMILY.) 



Var. androcladum, Engelm. Stouter and taller : inflorescence branched 



below ; branches bearing numerous sterile heads : fruit larger, not contracted, 

 long-taperiug at both ends. — Gray's Manual, 481. 



Var. angustifolium, Eugelm. Leaves floating : inflorescence simple ; 

 fruit smaller, short-stiped, contracted in the middle. — Loc. cit. 



* * * Usuallij floating, with very slender stems and delicate ahcaijs flat and 

 narrow leaves: inflorescence simple, of few small heads: scales oval or obovate, 

 denticulate : nuts oval, with a very short stipe and short point. 

 3. S. minimum, Bauhin, Fries. Fertile heads solitary or two, axillary, 

 sessile, or the lower one peduucled : nuts somewhat triangular, contracted 

 below : stems when out of the water only 5 to 6 inches high. — Uinta Moun- 

 tains, and northward, thence eastward to New England. 



Order 84. L.E]!INACE^. CDuckweed Family.) 



Minute stemless plants, floating free on the water, destitute of distinct 

 stem and foliage, being merely a disk-like frond producing one or few 

 monoecious flowers from the edge or upper surface, and commonly hang- 

 ing roots from underneath ; fruit a utricle, and seed large. 



1. lieinna. Frond 1 to 5-nerved, with a single rootlet. 



2. Speirodela. Frond 7 to 11-nerved, with several rootlets. 



1. LEMNA, Linn. Duckweed. Duck's-meat. 



Flowers marginal, bracteate, diandrous. Anther-cells bilocellate by a trans- 

 verse partition, dehiscing transversely. Seeds 1 to 6. — Rootlet destitute of 

 vascular tissue. 



1. L. trisulca, L. Fronds thin, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, attenuate at base 

 into a slender stalk, very obscurely 3-nerved, usually several series of offshoots 

 remaining connected: seeds ovate. — From Xew Mexico to Oregon, the Sas- 

 katchewan, and eastward through most of North America. 



2. L. minor, L. Fronds rather thick, round- to elliptic-obovate, sessile, very 

 obscurely 3-nerved, the offshoots soon separating : seeds oblong-obovate. — 

 Abundant everywhere, closely covering the surface of stagnant pools. 



2. SPEIRODELA, Schleiden. 



Like Lemna, but anther-cells bilocellate by a vertical partition and dehiscent 

 longitudinally, and ovary 2-celled. — Rootlets with axile vascular tissues. 



1. S. polyrrhiza, Schleid. Fronds round-obovate, purple beneath: roots 

 clustered, usually 3 to 5. — Lemna polyrrhiza, L. Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, 

 and eastward throughout the continent. Very rarely seen in flower or fruit. 



