6 MONANDRIA— MONOGYNIA. Chara. 



4. CHARA. Chara. 



Linn. Gen. 567. J«ss. 18. Fl.Br.4. Lam. t. 742. Gcertn. t.M. 



Nat. Orel. Inundata. Linn. 15. Naiades. Juss. 66. Cha- 

 7-acece. Hook. Scot. p. 2. 1 08. 



Cal. none. Cor. none. Anth. lateral, sessile, globose, tes- 

 sellated, splitting into several portions. " Pollen mixed 

 with spiral fibres." Hook. Germ, ovate, spirally striated. 

 Style none. Stigma ? 5-tootlied. Berry with many 

 spherical seeds. 



Aquatic herbs, smooth or prickly, with a cylindrical, sub- 

 divided, stem, and whorled, cylindrical, simple or com- 

 pound, flowering branches ; no real leaves. Fl. simple, 

 naked, the anther and pistil mostly together, rarely on 

 separate plants ; so that the genus is not monoecious, 

 though, in one or two instances, occasionally dioecious. 

 The real nature of the fructification, or mode of impreg- 

 nation, is very obscure. 



1. C. vulgaris. Common Chara. 



Striated, without prickles. Whorled branches tapering, 

 with internal partitions. Bracteas four together. 



C. vulgaris. Linn. Sp. PI. 1624. rVillcL v. 4. 183. Fl, Br. 5. 



Engl. Bot. V. 5. t. 336. Hook. Scot. p. 2. 109. Hedw. Theor. 



t. 32, 33. 

 C. vulgaris foetida. Vaill. Mem. de VAc. des Sc.for 1719. 17. t.3. 



f. 1. RaiiSyn. 132. 

 C. n. 1681. Hall. Hist. v. 3. 4. 

 Equisetum foetidum, sub aqufi repens. Bauh. Pin. 16. Prodr. 



25. f. Theatr. 25 1 ./. Ger. Em. 1115. 

 /3. Equiseti foetidi, sub aquis repentis, secunda species. Preston 



in Raii Hist. v. 3. 104. 



In muddy stagnant ditches, common. 



Annual ? July. 



Root fixed in the mud. Herb reaching near the surface, but always 

 completely immersed. Main branches alternate ; subordinate 

 ones whorled, 6 or 8 in a whorl, tapev-pointed, an inch long, or 

 more, jointed internally with transverse partitions, and, towards 

 the top of the stem, beset, on their upper side, with rows of 

 erect, minute, awl-shaped bracteas, 4 together, in whose centre 

 stands the pale, sessile, ovate, bluntly 5-toothed ger7n&i ; and 

 close to it, but at the outside of the bracteas, the sessile, pale 

 reddish, slimy anther. Whole plant nauseously fetid, usually 

 incrusted with earth, if any happens to be chemically dissolved 

 in the water. 



jS. appears to be the same species, not incrusted. 



