62 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



ones between them. Peduncle of the spathe filiform, not thickened 

 upwards, longer than the spadix. Spadix oblong-strapshaped, with 

 small marginal bands clasping the pistils, few-flowered. Spathe 

 abruptly enlarged above the peduncle, with a short foliaceous point. 

 Nuts oblong-cylindrical smooth. 



On the shores of sandy and muddy creeks and estuaries. Rather 

 rare. On the shore of Brading Harbour, near the ferry, opposite 

 13(Mubridge, and on the sand head off Ryde, east and west of the pier, 

 Isle of Wight; Poole Harbour, Dorset ; Emsworth Creek, between 

 Hants and Sussex ; Chichester Creek, Sussex ; shores of the Bly the, 

 Korthumberland ; between Fairland and Hunterstone Point, Ayrshire 

 ( Dr. Walker- Arnott) ; "Montrose Basin, Forfar" (Miss A. Carnegie, 

 per Soc. Bot. Edin.). On the mud creek close to the railway station 

 at Baldoyle, Dublui (Mr. A. G. More). 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Autumn. 



Very similar to Z. marina, var. angustifolia, but a smaller plant, 

 with the leaves 3 to 6 inches long by ^ inch broad ; peduncles very 

 slender, V to 1 inch long. Spadix -\ to i inch h^ng, remarkable for the 

 little bands which proceed from the sides and clasp the ovaries. The 

 fruit is about Jr inch long, much narrower and more cylindrical than 

 that of Z. marina, and smooth in my specimens; but Fries says it is 

 finely striated under a lens. 



Dwarf Grasswrack. 

 French, Zosthre mineur. German, Zwerg Seegras. 



GENUS F.— NAIAS. WUld, 



Flowers subsolitary or apparently clustered, dioecious, rarely monoe- 

 cious, sessile, axillary. Male flower enclosed in a membranous spathe, 

 but destitute of perianth, consisting of a single stamen ; anther with 

 or without a filament, 1-celled or 4-celled. Female flower reduced to 

 a single carpel; style short; stigmas 2 or 4. Fruit a subdrupaceous 

 uchene, with a membranous separable epicarp. 



Slender submerged herbs, growing in fresh water, with opposite 

 linear or somewhat whorlcd entire or denticulate and sometimes 

 undulated leaves. 



This genua of plants is so called from Nayas, a water nymph. 



