PLATE ccccy. 
APONOGETON MONOSTACHYON. 
Stmple-spiked Aponogeton. 
CLASS +25 GHD ER IV. 
DODECANDRIA TETRAGYNIA. Twelve Chives. Four Pointals. 
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER, 
AMENTUM e squamis compositum. Calyx nul- CatKin composed of scales. Empalement 
lus. Corolla nulla. Capsule 4, tri- none. Blossom none. Capsules 4, three- 
5 seeded. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER, &c. ° 
AponoceTon, spicd simplici, foliis cordato- | AponoGeEToN, with a simple spike, and heart- 
ovalibus, Willd, Sp. Pl. 2. 927. oval shaped leaves. 
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 
1. The chives detached, 
2. The pointals detached. 
3. The same magnified. 
ea 
Four species only of this singular genus have hitherto been enumerated by authors: viz. the present 
one from the East Indies ; crispum, a native of Ceylon; and angustifolium and distachyon, from the 
Cape of Good Hope ; the last of which is the most showy, and is figured on our 290th plate. 
They are all water plants, and could no more thrive with their roots and natant leaves out of that 
element than an Aloe or Stapelia could prosper in it : they are therefore, along with other tropical 
aquatics, cultivated in our hot-houses in troughs or cisterns of rich earth and clear water 3 in which, 
consociated with the majestic Nymphez, the stately Thalia, and the more humble but not less in- 
teresting Menyanthes indica, they produce a most fragrant and desirable appearance ; that perhaps. 
is indebted for some of its charms to the fine contrast formed by the terrestrial exotics which surround 
them. 
In a collection of tropical plants, where a few cisterns of aquatics are judiciously interspersed, the 
oppressive heat of the stove in which they grow, is as it were delusively alleviated, ‘‘ in the mind’s eye,” 
by the simple, yet cooling sight of the little pools of water in which they float. Few are the number 
of observers who contemplate them without imbibing pleasure. This unquestionably arises from the 
strong but agreeable contrast that is exhibited to the eye, by the happy junction of the productions of 
the waters with those of the earth. They are vegetables of widely different orders—productions of 
~ very different natures—and inhabitants of elements diametrically opposite. 
The simple-spiked Aponogeton produces roundish tubers in various parts of its shoots; by the 
transplantation of which the plant is readily and speedily propagated. Our drawing of it was made in 
July last, at J. Vere’s, Esq. Kensington Gore, in whose collection it thrives very well, We have not 
as yet seen it in any other, 
