492 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



GENERA. 



I. SAURURE.E. 



1. Saururus L. — Flowers hermaphrodite (rarely polygamous) 

 naked ; receptacle convex. Stamens 6 ; 4 lateral in pairs ; filaments 

 free, sometimes (Saururopsis) articulate ; anthers 2-celled ; dehiscence 

 longitudinal, introrse lateral or sometimes extrorse. Carpels 3, 4, 

 free ; ovary tapering above into short style, sulcate stigmatose 

 inside ; ovules 2, inserted at base of ventral angle, sessile descending 

 orthotropous ; micropyle superior extrorse. "Berries'" 1-4, 1- 

 seeded . Seed orthotropous ; albumen copious fleshy ; embryo 

 minute subapical inverted, clothed by a second subcarneous amniotic 

 albumen. — Aromatic perennial herbs ; rhizome subterranean annual ; 

 branches erect ; leaves alternate simple petiolate ; petiole sheathing 

 at base, produced inside into connate stipules ; flowers in short 

 terminal racemes or spikes ; bracts alternate 1 -flowered, free or 

 connate with elevated axillary flower {North America, Temperate and 

 Tropical Continental and Insular South- Eastern Asia). See p. 465. 



2. Houttuynia Thunb. — Flowers hermaphrodite (nearly of 

 Saururus) ; stamens 3, perigynous free ; carpels 3, superposed (more 

 rarely 4), adnate at base to inside of receptacle, and connate high up 

 into a 1 -celled ovary; placentas 3 (more rarely 4) parietal, alter- 

 nating with styles ; styles stigmatiferous within ; ovules oo , usually 

 few (of Saururus). Fruit baccate; seeds few (of Saururus). — A 

 perennial herb (polygonaceous) ; leaves alternate cordate petiolate ; 

 petiole sheathing at base and produced into connate stipules ; 

 flowers 1-bracteate, in terminal spikes; a few lower bracts of 

 inflorescence broadly petaloid, coloured, involucrating base of spike 

 {Continental and Insular South-Eastern Asia). See p. 407. 



3. Anemiopsis Hook. & Arn. — Flowers nearly of Saururus, 

 hermaphrodite; stamens 5, 6. Germen 1-celled, at base deeply 

 immersed in and adnate to pits of rachis ; placentas 3 parietal ; 



