Melanthacee.] FLORA OF TASMANIA. 45 
Stems creeping ; branches slender, erect, leafy. Leaves in Tasmanian specimens 6-12 inches long, 1-2 lines 
broad, with numerous, very faint nerves. Flowers and fruit unknown in Tasmania. 
Gen. VIII. HALOPHILA, Gaud., an Thouars ? 
Flores dioici?, (interdum) monoici, axillares, solitarii, breve pedicellati. Perianthium spathaceum, 
diphyllum. Fr. masc. Stamina 3; filamentis connatis; antheris liberis, extrorsis, 1-locularibus. Pollen 
confervoideum. Fr. ram. Ovarium 1-loculare; ovulis plurimis, parietalibus, anatropis; stylo elongato,; 
stigmate obliquo, discoideo, (stigmatibus 3-5, filiformibus, Gaud.) Semina exalbuminosa, embryone curvo ; 
(semina depresso-subglobosa, umbilico basilari; testa membranacea; albumine farinoso; embryone apice 
albuminis posito, torto, Gaud.)—Herbula submarina, delicatula; caule repente, gracili, nodoso, ad nodos 
folioso ; foliis binis longe gracile petiolatis, oblongis v. lineari- v. elliptico-oblongis, obtusis, integerrimis cre- 
mulatisve; costa crassiuscula ; venis intramarginalibus, capillaribus v. evanidis; venulis e costa divaricatis 
ascendentibusve ; stipulis ad nodos binis, oppositis, late oblongis, obtusis, membranaceis, deciduis. 
A very curious plant, of which I have seen no flower or fruit, and I have taken the above description of these 
in part from Endlicher's * Genera Plantarum,’ for which I believe Gaudichaud is the authority, and in part from some 
notes and sketches of flowers of both sexes, for which I am indebted to C. Drew, Esq., Assistant-Surgeon in the 
Madras Army, who examined specimens of apparently the same plant on the Malabar coast. It appears to be a 
congener of Delile’s Zostera bullata.—A very slender, submarine, pale-green plant, consisting of a slender, creeping, 
jointed stem, giving off a pair of long-petioled leaves at each joint. Leaves membranous, 1-2 inches long, oblong or 
elliptic or linear-oblong, blunt, with a slender, intramarginal vein, and stout costa, which gives off slender venules. 
Flowers moncecious in Mr. Drew's notes (according to Gaudichaud diccious), axillary, solitary, enclosed in two 
spathaceous bracts. Male of three one-celled anthers (two-celled according to Mr. Drew's description, but not his 
figure), with monadelphous filaments, linear anthers, and confervoid pollen. Female flower of one one-celled, many- 
ovuled ovary, with a slender style, and obliquely truncate, discoid stigma (Drew), and three to five stigmas (Gaud.). 
Seeds many, according to Gaudichaud, depressed, globose, with copious, farinaceous albumen, and a small, twisted 
embryo, in a cavity at its apex (but according to Mr. Drew, about twelve, exalbuminous, with a curved embryo). 
(Name from óAs, the sea, and ¢iAw; in allusion to its marine habitat.) 
l. Halophila ovalis (Gaud. in Freyc. Voy. Bot. p. 429. t. 40. f. 1); caule gracili, nodis remotis, 
foliis planis longe petiolatis.—Caulinia ovalis, Br. Prodr. 329. Diplanthera, Griff. Notul. ad Plant. Asiat. 
Monocot. t. 161 C. f. 9. (Gunn, 1346.) 
Has. Found floating in the sea in Bass's Straits, Gunn. 
Disrris. Tropical and South-western Australia, the peninsula of India, and Madagascar. 
Nar. Oro. IX. MELANTHACEA. 
A small Order, in Australia containing about fifteen species, with one exception extratropical. 
Gen. I. BURCHARDIA, Br. 
Flores umbellati. Perianthium inferum, petaloideum, 6-phyHum, foliolis erecto-patentibus, basi nec- 
tariferis. Stamina 6, basi perianthii inserta; antheris extrorsis, peltatis. Ovarium trigonum, acutum, tri- 
loculare; ovulis plurimis, biseriatis; stylis 3, brevibus. Capsula 3-partibilis, introrsum dehiscens. Semina 
conferta, biseriata, verticaliter compressa ; testa coriacea.—Herbe; radicibus e fibris crassis, fasciculatis ; 
caule simplici, foliato; folis linearibus, vagina integra, superioribus subvaginantibus, supremis involucri- 
formibus ; floribus albis. 
VOL. II. N 
