94 
LEPTANTHUS cramnevs. 
Grass-leaved Leptanthus. 
TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA.—Nat. Orv. JUNCEZ. 
Gen. Cuar.—Spatha uniflora. Perianthium coloratum, inferum, tubo lon- 
gissimo gracili, limbo sexpartito equali. Stylus apice incrassatus. 
sula unilocularis, trivalvis, polysperma. Semina receptaculis tribus fili- 
formibus valvarum medio affixis inserta. 
L. gramineus. 
L. gramineus, Micu. Fi. Bor. Am. v. i. p. 25. t. 5. £ 2—Nutr. Gen. v. i. 
p- 29. 
Heteranthera graminea, Van1, Enum. v. ii. p. 45—Pursa, Fl. Amer. Sept. 
v. i. p. 32.~-Roem. et ScHULTES, Syst. Veg. v. i. p. 488. 
“ Schollera graminifolia, Witup. N. Act. Soc. Scrut. Hist. Nat. 3. p. 438.” 
Commelina dubia, Jacq. Obs. Bot. v. iii. p. 9. t, 39- 
Plant aquatic, submerged, much resembling Potamogeton gramineum ; with 
longish, slender, waved and geniculated subdichotomous stems, and nu- 
merous, alternate, dark green, linear, submembranaceous leaves, obtuse, 
about 3 inches in length, with a large, sheathing, semipellucid ligule at 
the base, like that of the grasses. 
From the axils of the leaves springs the solitary flower, arising from a long, 
cylindrical, membranaceous spatha, and that again surrounded by the li- 
gule of the leaf. Perianth single. Tube very long, slender, — 
swollen at the base, where the germen is situated. Limb cut into six 
equal, spreading, linear, bright yellow segments. 
Stamens three, iar at the pent of the tube, quite yellow. : Filament. 
broadly subulate. Anther oblong, 2-celled, cells opening longitudinally d 
and facing the style. Pollen yellow. Germen oblong, tapering into the 
very long, slender style, which is clavate above. Stigma glandular, ob- 
scurely three or six cleft. Capsule, when unexpanded, ee aaa 
gibbosities from the swelling of the seeds within, and nr — 
with the marcescent perianth, 1-celled, 3-valved, (the valves are — 
by the suture). Each of these three valves has a filiform, zig-zag re- 
ceptacle, slightly attached to its centre, upon which, on alternate par 
the seeds are inserted. These are ovate or oval, striated, with a raphis 
which communicates with the top, so that the seed is actually —— 
Albumen between fleshy and farinaceous, dense. Embryo cylindrical, in- 
cluded. Radicle opposite the hilum. 
VOL. 31. 
