LJ3RARY 



new York: 



BOTANICAL 



CXLVIL— ERIOCAULONE^E. 



SCAPIGEROUS, annual or perennial herbs, rarely aquatic ; 1. 

 narrow, base sheathing, venation parallel ; infl. a solitary- 

 globose or hemispheric head of densely packed, minute, usually 

 white, unisexual fl., terminating a ped. with a tubular basal 

 sheath; heads androgynous, rarely unisexual, involucrate by 

 short scarious or chartaceous bracts ; fl. often more or less 

 hoary with short white hairs, densely crowded on a fiat, convex, 

 hemispheric or conical, glabrous or villous receptacle, solitary 

 in the axil of a cuneiform bracteole which is as long as or 

 longer than the flower and dorsally hoary at the top ; male fl. 

 stipitate, sep. 2-3, free or connate, hyaline, deciduous, rarely 

 2 or o; corolla stipitate, funnel-shaped, 3-lobed, lobes minute, 

 one sometimes much longer than the others; stam. 6 or fewer, 

 inserted at the base of the corolla, fil. short, often unequal, anth. 

 didymous, 2-celled, usually black, pistillode 0; fern. fl. sessile 

 or stipitate, sep. 3, rarely 2, 1, or o, unequal, usually concave, 

 deciduous; corolla sessile on the calyx or stipitate, pet. 3, 

 unequal, broad or narrow, persistent, with often a black spot 

 on the limb ; ov. superior, sessile or stipitate, globose, 3-lobed, 

 3-celled, cells with 1 pendulous ovule; style rather short, 

 stigmas 3, erect, filiform ; fr. a very small, membranous, 

 3-celled, loculicidal capsule; seeds very minute, oblong or 

 ellipsoid, smooth, striate, or ribbed, endosperm floury, embryo 

 minute. 



ERIOCAULON, L. 



For characters, see Order. — Sp. about 150; 43 in Fl. B. Ind. 



Submerged aquatics, with capillary 1. 









Bracts and bracteoles glabrous . 



1. 



E, 



SETACEUM. 



Bracts and bracteoles pubescent . 



2. 



E. 



Capillus-naiadis. 



Terrestrial (or E. jiuviatile aquatic). 









One pet. of male fl. protruded beyond the 









bracteoles. 









Bracteoles acute or obtuse. 









Heads §-§ in. diam 



3- 



E. 



CAULESCENS. 



Heads J-§ in. diam 



4- 



E. 



ZEYLANICUM. 



Bracteoles cuspidate. 









Cusps of bracteoles long 



5- 



E. 



LONGICUSPIS. 



Cusps of bracteoles short 



6. 



E. 



ATRATUM. 



PART v. 







B 



