SUPPLEMENT. 
THE FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 
By CHarrgs Louis PoLLaRD. 
CHAPTER XXX.—Continued. 
AMILY HYDROPHYLLACEAE. Waterleaf Family. Contains 
about 17 genera and 160 species, very widely distributed. The 
plants are herbs, with variously shaped and usually alternate 
leaves. The flowers, which are nearly always blue in color, are arranged 
in one-sided spikes or racemes called scorpioid from the fact that they 
are curved like a scorpion’s tail, gradually straightening as the flowers 
bloom. The calyx and corolla are 5-parted or 5-cleft, the stamens of 
like number and inserted on the throat of the corolla, alternating with 
itslobes. Ovary superior, 2-celled with 2 styles ; fruit capsular, 2-valved. 
The name Waterleaf, which is a literal translation of the name of 
the typical genus (Hydrophyllum) is supposed to refer to the water cavity 
in each leaf. (Fig. 196.) The Hydrophyllums are common plants in 
any ip panes 
ue ; 
Be siy 
Fic. 196. The Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum appendiculatum), After Britton 
and Brown, Ill. Fl. Northeast U. S. 
