242 OCTANDRIA— TETRAGYNIA. Elatine. 



Cat. half inferior, in 2 or 3 deep, flat, spreading, permanent 

 segments. Cor. of 1 petal, wheel-shaped, in 4 or 5 deep, 

 ovate, acute, spreading segments, longer than the calyx. 

 Filam. 8 or 10, awl-shaped, the length of the calyx. 

 A7ith. roundish. Germ, half superior. Styles 4- or 5, 

 simple, short, moderately spreading, united at their base, 

 which is permanent. Stigmas simple. Berry globose, its 

 lower half invested with the permanent calyx, whose seg- 

 ments surround the middle part, of 1 cell, pulpy in the 

 centre. Seeds 4, ranged round the central pulp, elliptical, 

 compressed, each surrounded with a vertical, membranous 

 border. 



The terminal^owe;- only is 4-cleft, with 8 stamens ,- the rest 

 5-cleft ; hence, according to a rule assumed by Linnaeus, 

 this genus is placed in Octandria. 



A smooth herb, of humble growth, with twice ternate leaves, 

 and terminal, capitate, greenjloivers. 



1. A. Moschatellina. Tuberous Moscbatell. 



A. Moschatellina. I,inra.Sp.Pi.527. Willd.v.2.472. Fl. Br. 432. 



Engl. Bot.v. 7. t. 453. Curt. Lo7id. fuse. 2. t. 26. Hook. Scot. 123. 



Fl. Dan. t. 94. Ehrh. PI. Off. 434. 

 Moschatellina n. 1 005 . Hall. Hist. v. 1 . 429. 

 M. foliis Fumariae bulbosas, de qua Cordus. Bauh. Hist. v. 3. p. 1. 



206./. Rail Syn. 267. 

 Moschatella. Cord. Hist. 172, 2.f. Tillands Ic. 53./. 

 Radix cava minima viridi flore. Ger. Em. 1091./ 

 Minimus Ranunculus septentrionalium, herbido muscoso flore. 



Lob. Ic. 674./ 



In groves, thickets^ and under shady hedges. 



Perennial, April, May. 



Root of several white, fleshy, imbricated, concave scales, producing 

 fibres and runners from their interstices. Steyn solitary, erect, 

 simple, angular, 3 or 4 inches high. Leaves broadly and un- 

 equally lobed and cut ; the radical ones twice ternate, often so- 

 litary, on long stalks ; stem-leaves ternate, opposite, smaller, 

 on shorter stalks. Fl. pale green, with a musky scent when 

 moist, forming a round head, 4 of them being lateral and 5- 

 cleft ; 1 terminal, erect, and 4-cleft. The fruit, by Gaertner's 

 description, is truly a berry, becoming entirely pulpy as it 

 ripens. 



223. ELATINE. Waterwort. 



Linn. Gen. \98. Juss. 300. Fl. Br. 433. Lam. t. 320. Gcertn. 

 t. 112. 



