a supposed new British Plant. 83 



calycinis ovato-oblongis ; interioribus petaloideis linearibus, aut 

 nuUis, Stamina 9 ; lilamenta basi in columnam brevem connata ; 

 antherse oblongse, basi affixse, loculis connectivo angusto sejunctis. 

 — Fern. Spatha tubulosa, ore paululum dilatato bifido obliquove, uni- 

 flora. Perigonii tubus filiformis, elongatus ; limbus sexpartitus, 

 laciniis ovalibus, conformibus, exterioribus calycinis, interioribus 

 petaloideis. Staminodia tria, laciniis exterioribus opposita, subulata ; 

 antherse nullae. Ovarium inferum. Stylus setiformis cum perigonii 

 tubo connatus ; stigmata tria, bifida vel emarginata. Bacca sub- 

 trigona, unilocularis, oligosperma. — Herbse perennes (vel annuse. 

 Rich.)*, aquaticse, caulescentes, radicantes. Folia verticillata vel 

 opposita, sessilia. Spathse axillares. 



Anacharis, Rich, in Mem. de Vlnstitut, 1811, ii. p. 61. t. 2 (mas). 

 Udora, Nutt. Gen. N. Amer. Plants, ii. 242. 



A. Alsinastrum (nov. sp. ?) ; foliis ternis ovali-oblongis obtusis sub- 

 tilissime serrulatis, spatha floris masculi (ignota), floris feminei 

 tubulosa ovarium sessilem pluries superante apice bifida, perigonii 

 laciniis latis subsequalibus, stigmatibus ligulatis reflexis emargi- 

 natis. 



Hub. In ponds connected with the canal at Foxton Locks 

 near Market Harborough, Leicestershire, where it was disco- 

 vered by Miss Mary Kirby, flowering sparingly, at the begin- 

 ning of September 1847. 



Plant submersed; stem solid, round, semitransparent, several 

 feet long, branching at irregular and distant points, clothed 

 throughout with whorls of leaves. Leaves three (rarely four) in 

 each whorl, oblong, 3-4 lines long, l|-2 lines broad, obtusely- 

 pointed, minutely and closely serrulate, diaphanous, formed 

 throughout (a continuous semitransparent midrib excepted) of 

 longitudinal rows of small oblong green cells, of which the two 

 or three marginal rows are colourless and quite transparent ; edge 

 furnished with very minute closely-placed (except towards the 

 base, where they are altogether wanting or very distant) spinulose 

 teeth pointing forwards ; end formed of two curves meeting at an 

 obtuse angle and tipped with a spinous point similar to the mar- 

 ginal ones ; uppermost leaves blunter than the lower ones, and 

 often quite obtuse ; all spreading at right angles from the stem, 

 their extremity rather reflexed ; lower internodes about as long 

 as the leaves, lowest much longer and with opposite and short 



* A. calUtrichoides, Rich., is expressly stated by that author to be an- 

 nual, our plant is undoubtedly perennial. In a growing plant, now (Dec. 22, 

 1847) before me, the old stem is losing its leaves, which have nearly all 

 decayed and fallen off, and appears to be itself on the point of death, but 

 several clusters of young shoots have sprung from it, at the base of which 

 roots are produced. In the spring each of these clusters will probably ap- 

 pear to be an independent young plant. This may account for the supposed 

 annual duration of some of the species. 



6* 



