CHAPTER II. 



Eel Grass 



HYDROPHILOUS. 



Few flowers are pollinated by water. 



ValUsneria spiralis is an excellent illustration. 

 It is a commonplant found in ponds and 

 slow running streams in many parts of the eastern 

 United States.- It is stemless, bearing linear, thin, 

 ribbon-lilte leaves. The flowers are dioecious. The 



FIG. 3. 



Fig. 3. Duckweed (Lemna minor). 1, plant with only one pistil mature: 8, 



the same with the lirst stamen mature ; 3, both stamens mature, maguiged six 



times; 4, a fully developed flower magnified twenty-flve times. (After Trelease.) 



pistillate flowers are solitary and borne on long, slender 

 threads, which bring it to the surface of the water. The 

 flower consists of a perianth composed of three petals and 

 three small sepals. The three large stigmas are two-lobed 

 and are so situated in the mature flowers that they turn back 

 beyond the three petals; hence it is important that the sepals 

 should be small. The staminate flowers are numerous and 



