220 ELATlNACEiE. 



Capsule globular, membranaceous or chartaceous, 3-4- 

 celled, or in Bergella five-celled, septifragally dehiscent by 

 as many valves opposed to the sepals, their margins separat- 

 ing from the persistent dissepiments, which remain attached 

 to the central axis, interposed between the projecting many- 

 seeded placentas ; or in Crypta the membranous capsule 

 bursts irregularly ? and the delicate dissepiments disappear 

 after or before the capsule opens, leaving a basilar placenta 

 bearing 6 to 12 erect seeds. Seeds anatropous, oblong or 

 cylindrical, straight or incurved ; the crustaceous testa longi- 

 tudinally ribbed and transversely rugose or reticulated : inner 

 integument thin. Albumen none. Embryo conformed to 

 the seed : cotyledons semiterete, obtuse, shorter than the 

 cylindraceous radicle which points to the hilum. 



Herbs, usually small aquatic annuals, with opposite, or in 

 >$- Potamopithys verticillate, sessile or short-petioled and en- 

 tire or toothed leaves, with interposed stipules, and small 

 (solitary or rarely cymulose-fascicled) axillary flowers. Stip- 

 ules distinct or more or less united in pairs, entire or toothed. 



Ktvmology. 'EXanVj/, an ancient name, from 'E\aTrj,n fir-tm, in allu- 

 sion to the appearance of the verticillate-leaved species. 



PLATE 95. Elatine (Crypta) Americana, Am. New Haven, Connecticut. 



1. Flowering branch, magnified. 



2. Diagram of a dimerous flower. (Carpels, &c, anterior and posterior.) 



3. A flower, more magnified. 



4. A magnified stamen, outside, and 5, an inside view. 



6. Pistil, magnified ; and 7, vertical section, showing the basilar placentae. 



8. An ovule, more magnified. 



9. A seed, magnified ; and 10, a vertical section of it through the embryo. 

 PLATE 96. E. (Bergella) Texana, Torr. <5f Gr. / — Texas, Lindheimer. 



1. Diagram of the flower, aestivation, &c. 



2. Two flowers, with the axis, base of the leaves, and stipules, magnified. 



3. A sepal ; 4, a petal ; and 5, a stamen, more magnified. 



6. Ovary, magnified ; and 7, vertical section through the placentae. 



8. Dehiscent capsule, with the persistent sepals and petals, enlarged. 



9. Transverse section, showing the septifragal dehiscence, &c. 



10. A magnified seed. 



1 1 . Vertical section of the same, through the contained embryo. 



