296 CLASSIFICATION 



attached to the parent, as in Vallisneria, and possess 

 a calyx-tube elongated into a thread, and the three 

 filiform stigmas projecting out of the calyx-tube get 

 easily pollinated by the freely-floating male flowers. 

 Lagarosiphon Roxburghii (rasna jhangi) is a filiform 

 tank herb. The mode of its pollination has already 

 been mentioned. Hydrocharis Morsus~Rancs is a 

 floating herb with monoecious flowers (fig. 266). 

 Ottelia alismoides is a marsh herb with white flowers 

 and ovoid fruits enclosed in a 6-winged spathe. 

 This is mostly an Order of aquaphilous plants. 



Sub-class 2. SpadicifloR/E 



Nat. Order i. Palmacece. — Shrubs or trees, solitary 

 or gregarious. Stems usually unbranched, erect, 

 sometimes climbing or trailing. Leaves large, sheath- 

 ing at the base. Flowers i- or 2-sexual, in an un- 

 branched or branched spadix, enclosed in i or more 

 spathes. Perianth inferior, of 6 segments in 2 

 whorls. Stamens usually 6, occasionally 3 or more 

 than 6, hypogynous. Ovary superior, apocarpous 

 or syncarpous, i- to 3-celled. Fruit nut -like or 

 baccate or drupaceous. Seeds with a minute em- 

 bryo in a superficial cavity in the fleshy or horny 

 endosperm. 



This is a very large family, chiefly tropical, a few 

 only extending into the temperate regions. With 

 the exception of the Grasses this is perhaps the most 

 valuable of all the families of plants, furnishing us 

 with a vast variety of useful products, such as sugar, 

 starch, oil, edible fruits and seeds, beverages, build- 

 ing and thatching materials, fibres, cordage, writing 

 materials, and so on. 



Common plants: narikel or Cocoa-nut (Cocos nuci- 



