1704 CXLVII. ALISMACE^. [Daiiias<,nin'nu 



and carrying off the upper one -with it. Seeds oblong, tuberculate. — F. v. M. 

 Fragm. viii. 215 ; Actmocarjms minor, E. Br. Prod. 843 ; Alisma minus, Spreng. 

 Syst. ii. 163. 



Hab.: Herbert's Creek, i?oipmfl» ; North Queensland, Armit; Tambourine Ml., nev. B. 

 Scortechini. 



3. BUTOMOPSIS, Kunth. 

 (Butomus-like.) 



(Tasnagoeharis, Hoclist.) 



Flowers hermaphrodite. Perianth of 6 segments, 3 outer ones thinly ijnem- 

 branous, reticulate, 3 inner rather larger, petal-like but very thin and 

 transparent, fugacious. Stamens 8 or 9. Ovules numerous in each carpel. 

 Fruit-carpels 6 or sometimes 7, slightly cohering at the base, and adnate to the 

 fiat receptacle, tapering into short. spreading beaks, opening along the ventral 

 suture. Seeds very numerous. Embryo horse-shoe shaped. — Semi-aquatic or: 

 marsh plant, with radical leaves on long petioles. Flowers on long pedicels, in a. 

 simple terminal umbel. . 



The genus is limited to a single species spread over tropical Asia and Africa. 



1. B. lanceolata (lance-shaped), Kunth, Enum. Hi. 1Q5; Betith.Fl.Mitstr. 

 vii. 187. Leaves oblong-lanceOlate or elliptical, acute or obtuse, usually attaining 

 the length of the scape including the long petiole. Scape 4 to Sin. high under 

 the umbel, which consists of from 3 to above 20 pedicels If to 4in. long when in 

 fruit, surrounded by a few thin scarious bracts. Oater perianth-segments ovate 

 or nearly orbicular, 2 to 2f lines diameter when in flower, persistent and some- 

 times rather larger under the fruit ; inner segments rather larger and ver^ 

 deciduous. Bipe carpels shortly exceeding the perianth. Seeds smooth and 

 shining, scarcely more than J line long. — Butonms lanceolatus, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 

 315 : Boyle, Ulustr. Him. Bot. t. 95 ; TancKiocharis cordofana, Hochst. in Flora, 

 1841, 369 ; F. v. M. Fragm. x. 104. 



Hab.: Lagoons on Gilbert Kiver, Armit. 



Okdek CXLVIII NAIADEiE. 



Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual, regular or very imperfect. Perianth of 

 6, 4 or 3 small scale-like segments or rudimentary or none. Stamens G or 

 fewer ; anthers erect, sessile or nearly so at the base of the segments or on the 

 receptacle, usually 2-celled, opening outwards in longitudinal slits. Ovary of 6 

 or fewer carpels, distinct or rarely more or less connate or solitary, tapering into 

 distinct entire or branched styles or with sessile stigmas ; ovules 1 or rarely 

 .several in each cell, laterally attached at or above or rarely below the middle. 

 Fruit of 6 or fewer or single indehiscent nutlets, or rarely follicular carpels 

 opening inwards in a longitudinal sht. Seed attached at or below the summit, 

 straight curved or more or less coiled, with a thin .testa and no albumen. 

 Embryo the shape of the seed or more coiled or hooked at the upper cotyledonous 



end, the plumula frequently prominent from a dorsal cavity Aquatic floating 



or subnwrged plants or rarely erect marsh herbs with radical leaves. Flowers 

 small, usually green, in spikes heads or solitary, on axillary peduncles or radical 

 scapes, or entirely enclosed in the sheathing bases of floral leaves or bracts. 



The Ordei-, like Alismacea, is represented in the marshes, ponds, and shallow waters of most 

 parts of the world, aud inclu(3es some exclusively marine genera as widely dispersed The 

 deficiency or very reduced slate of the perianth and sessile anthers opening outwards readily 

 distinguish the Order from AUsmacace, which are otherwise its nearest allies. 



Tbibe I. JuncagineaB.-F^Oiwrs ,picaU or racemose, hermaphrodite or unisexual. Penanth 

 (very rarely wanting) segments 6, 2-senate, herbaceous. Stamens 6, rarely only 1 Ovan of 3 

 or more carpels, 1 to 2 ovulate, ovule basal erect, anatropous. J J ■ 



