332 82. HTDEOCHABIDACE^i — 83. OECHIDACE^. 



With runners bearing tufts of stalked roundish-renifomi entire 

 leaves. Fl. white, delicate, springing from a pellucid meinbra- 

 nous sheath. Seeds covered with beautiful prominent spirally 

 twisted cells.— Ponds and ditches. P. VII. VUI. E. I. 



2. Steaiio'tes lAnn. Water-Soldier. 



1. S. almdes (L.) ; 1. swordshaped-triangular cUiate-spinons. 

 — -E. B. 379. -R. vii. 61. — Creeping in the mud. L. many, 

 rigid. Stalk compressed, 5 or 6 in. high, with two 1. near its 

 summit. Fl. white, delicate. The plant rises to the surface of 

 the water to flower, and sinks again afterwards. — Fen-ditches 

 in the East of England ; naturalized iu Scotland and Ireland. 

 P. VII. E. [S. I.] 



3. Aijach'aeis Bich. Water-Thyme. 



• *1. A. Alsinas'trum (Bab.) ; 1. 3 in a whorl oval-oblong blunt 

 serrulate, fem. fl. from a tubular bifid spath many times ex- 

 ceeding the sessile germen, sep. and pet. broad nearly equal, 

 stigmas reflexed.— ^. N. H. Ser. 2. i. t. 8. E. B. S. 2993. 

 Elodea Eich. ? — St. long, branching ; whorls of leaves many, 

 close together. Fl. very small but vnth a very long slender 

 tube often 2 or 3 in. long. The spath in the ajil of a leaflike 

 bract placed within the whorl of leaves. Sep. tinged with green 

 and pink externally, incurved, hooded. Pet. flat, transparent, 

 recurved, oblong. Filaments at first curved outwards, their 

 points placed under the hood of the sepals, afterwards erect, 

 linear, blunt. Anth. 0. Stigmas recurved, linear, or deeply 

 bifid. Sep. pet. and stigmas of about equal length. Style ad- 

 nate on 3 sides to the tube. Male fl. unknown in England. — 

 In water. Probably introduced from America, Canals and 

 rivers. P. VH.— IX. E.S.I. 



Order IXXXIII. OECHIDACE^. 



Sep. 3, usually coloured. Pet. 3, 2 above, 1 below (lip) fre- 

 quently lobed and spurred and unlike the others. Stam. 3, united 

 in a central column, 2 lateral abortive, or (in Cypnpedium) the 

 middle one abortive. PoUen powdery or cohering in masses. 

 Ovary l-ceUed, inferior, with 3 parietal placentas. Style form- 

 ing part of the column with the stamens; stigma a viscid space 

 in front of the column. Caps. 3-valved. Seeds very many, 

 minute. Testa loose, netted. — Eaphidiferous. 



Tribe I. OPHRYDINE^. Anther wholly adnate to the co- 

 lumn. Pollen-masses in divisible lobes which are indefinite 



