454 WATER PLANTAIN FAMILY. 



2. TRADESCANTIA, SPIDERWORT. (Named for the gardener- 

 botanist Tradescant.) Leaves sheathed at the base. 2/ 



* Umbels sessile at the end of the stem and branches between a pair of 

 leaves, or later also in the lower axils ; flowering in summer. 



T. Virgfnica, Linn. W. N. Y., W. and S.; also in gardens; leaves 



lance-linear, tapering regularly from the base to the point, ciliate ; umbels 



terminal ; flowers blue, in garden varieties purple or white. There are 



forms with broader leaves, lower stature, and pubescent stems and leaves. 



* * Umbels one or two on a naked peduncle. 



T. rdsea, Vent. Sandy woods, Md., S. and W.; slender, 6'-12' high, 

 smooth, with linear, grass-like leaves, and rose-colored flowers £' wide. 



3. ZEBRINA. (Name refers to the stripes often present on the leaves.) 

 Z. pendula, Schnitzl. (TradescAntia zebrIna and T. tri color). 



Wandering Jew. Common in greenhouses and window baskets; 

 spreads by branching and rooting freely ; the lance-ovate or oblong 

 rather succulent leaves crimson beneath, and green or purplish above, 

 often variegated with two broad stripes of silvery white. Mexico. 1J. 



CXXII. ALISMACEE, WATER PLANTAIN FAMILY. 



Marsh herbs, with flowers on scapes or scape-like stems, in 

 panicles, racemes, or spikes, with distinct calyx and corolla, 

 viz. 3 persistent green sepals and 3 conspicuous white petals, 

 and many distinct pistils which are 1-celled and mostly 1- 

 ovuled ; stamens 6 or more, on the receptacle. Flowers long- 

 stalked, loosely racemed or panicled, with dry lanceolate bracts 

 at the base. Fruit an akene in ours. Leaves sheathing, some- 

 times reduced to petioles. Juice sometimes milky. 



1. ALISMA. Flowers perfect, loosely panicled. Petals involute in the bud. Stamens 6. 



Ovaries many, in a ring, very flat-sided, becoming coriaceous fiat akenes, 2-8-keeled 

 on the back. 



2. ECHINODOEUS. Mowers perfect, in proliferous umbels. Petals imbricated in the 



bud. Stamens 9 or more. Ovaries heaped in a head, becoming wingless akenes. 

 8. 8AGITTARIA. Flowers moncecious, rarely dioecious or polygamous, in successive 

 whorls, the sterile at the summit of the scape ; the lowest fertile. Stamens usually 

 numerous. Ovaries very many, heaped on the globular receptacle, in fruit becom- 

 ing fiat and winged akenes. 



1. ALISMA, WATER PLANTAIN. (The old Greek name, of un- 

 certain meaning.) Flowers all late summer. 



A. Plantago, Linn. Shallow water; leaves long-petioled, varying 

 from ovate or oblong-heart-shaped to lanceolate, 3-5-ribbed ; panicle l°-2° 

 long, of very many and loose, small, white flowers. Variable. % 



2. ECHINODORTJS. (From Greek words for prickly flask, the head 

 of fruit being as it were prickly-pointed by the styles, but hardly so in 

 our species.) The following occur in muddy or wet places ; flowers sum- 

 mer ; the flowering shoots or scapes mostly proliferous and creeping. 



E. parvulus, Engelm. A tiny plant, l'-3' high, with lanceolate or 

 spatulate leaves, few-flowered umbels, 9 stamens, and almost pointless 

 akenes. Mass., W. and S. ® 



