CLASS V. ORDER I. 81 



repand, or furnished with minute irregularities at the edge, Avhich 

 hardly prevent them from being entire. Scape round, ascend- 

 ing, smooth, bearing a conical raceme of flowers. Peduncles 

 straight, scattered, supported by ovate, concave bractes. Calyx 

 erect, subcampanulate, five parted, persistent. Corolla funnel 

 shaped, tube short, border five cleft, spreading and at length 

 revolute, clothed on the upper part with a coating of dense, 

 fleshy, obtuse fibres. The color in the American variety is gen- 

 erally white, with a tinge of red, particularly on the outside. 

 Stamens five, shorter than the corollary, and alternate with its 

 segments ; anthers, oblong arrow-shaped. Germ ovate ; style 

 cylindrical, persistent, as long as the corolla; stigma bifid, com- 

 pressed. Capsule ovate, two valved, one celled. Seeds nu- 

 merous, minute, attached to two lateral receptacles. — Margins 

 of ponds and brooks, Cambridge. — May. — Perennial. 



88. VILLARSIA. 

 ViLLARSiA LACUNOSA. Vcnt. Common Villarsia. 



Leaves heart shaped, angular behind, entire, pitted 

 beneath ; umbels on the petioles ; corollas glabroua. 

 Syn. Villarsia aquatica. Gniel. 



Menyanthes trachysperma. Mich. 



An aquatic with small floating leaves. The petioles are very 

 slender and flexible. Leaves one or two inches in diameter, 

 heart shaped, the lobes somewhat angular, like those of Nym- 

 phaea odorata ; entire, smooth, dotted underneath. Flowers small, 

 white in umbels growing on the side of the petiole, about half an 

 inch below the leaf. The umbel is generally immersed in the 

 water, but one or more flowers rise above the surface, and 

 expand each day. Calyx in five lanceolate acute segments. 

 Corolla five parted, emarginate and curled upon the margin. 

 Anthers inserted at the divisions of the corolla, separated by 

 small glandular bodies upon pedicels, which appear like stamens 

 and may occasion a mistake in the class. Germ oval. Style 

 short, erect. At the place of the umbel is frequently a knot of 

 solid, oblong, acute bodies, resembling stem bulbs, and tending 

 downward. — Fresh pond. — July. 



This species appears somewhat different from V. cordata and 

 V. trachysperma of Elliott. 



