MARES-TAIL FA.\[IL\' 



I S3 



3. Cai.t.i'triciik (^^'ater StarwortJ. — Slender, submerged, 

 aquatic plants ; /caves exstipulate, opposite, simple, entire, the 

 upper ones sometimes floating and often forming a rosette; 

 flouvfs axillary, solitary, minute, moncecious, without calyx or 

 corolla, but usually with 2 white />rac/s beneath, consisting either 

 of one s/aiihii, or very rarely two, with a slender filament and a 

 one-chambered antlier dehiscing transversely, or of a 4-angled, 

 4-chambered ovary, with 2 slender styles ; *fruit of 4-\vinged, i- 

 seeded, indehiscent cocci. (Name from the Greek /'a/cw, beautiful, 

 t/u7X, hair.) 



I. C- /'(j/z^iVr/.f (Spring "Water Starwort). — .SVfOT.f long, slender, 

 sending out long thread-like silver)' roots from the joints ; t"he 

 upper /eaves ovate-spathulate, floating in a light-greeii star-like 



CALLlTRlCHjS I'AI I'sTRls (S/r/fit^ IWa/cr Sta'lvcrt). 



rosette, the stamens being the only parts of the plant actually above 

 water ; /raets straight, deciduous ; stv/es erect ; fri/it sessile, with 

 carpels swollen and bluntly keeled at the back. — Ponds and slow 

 streams ; common. — Fl. April — October. Annual or perennial. 



2. C. stai:/hi//s (Spring ^Vater Star\vort)i^A terrestrial form, 

 with the upper /eazvs broad roundish, in a close rosette, or absent : 

 />rae/s sickle-shaped, persistent ; stv/es erect in flower, reflexed in 

 fnuit ; carpe/s flattish, winged. — C'hieflv on mud ; common. — Fl. 

 May — September. Annual or perennial. 



3. C. po/ymbrpha, as yet only recognised' in a few localities, is 

 similar, its bracts being persistent ; but has stii^iitas 2 — 4 times as 

 long as the ripe fruit, and carpc/s scarcely winged. 



4. C. liainii/dta, usually \ery small ; iccives mostly inear ; 

 Ivacts sickle-shaped, deciduous ; styles lofeg, diverging ; carpe/s 



