496 



Spec. Chae. Leaves ensiform, obtuse, the length of the stem : 

 male ament distinct from the female, interstice of 2 — 3 fingers: 

 filaments solitary, 1 — 3 antheriferous at the apex. 



Margins of tanks and beds of rivers throughout India, flowering 

 nearly all the year. 



ORDEH CLXXXII. ERIOCAULACE^. 



Flovrers capitate, sometimes dicecious, bracteated, calyx 

 double: ovary 3-ceUed, superior, surrounded by a 2 — 3- 

 teethed or lobed membranous tube : ovules solitary, ortho- 

 tropal : style very short : stigmas equal in number to the cells 

 of the ovary : capsule loculicidally dehiscing : seeds solitary, 

 pendulous, covered with wings or rows of hairs : embryo more 

 or less lenticular, lying upon albumen at the extremity of the 

 seed opposite the hilum. — Peremiial marshy plants, stemless, 

 scape-bearing, or caulescent, sometimes suffrutescent : leaves 

 fistular, quite entire, radical ones packed close, cauline ones 

 scattered : flowers very small. 



GENUS I. EEIOCAULON. 

 Trtandria. Trigfynla. Sex Syst: 



Derw. From Erion wool, and Caulon a stem. 



Gen. Chak. Flowers capitate, androgynous, bracteate, central 

 ones male, marginal ones female, the former longish pedicelled: 

 calyx double, outer 3-sepaled, lateral sepals keeled, boat-shaped, 

 inner tubular or trumpet-shaped, limb bilabiately 3-lobed : stamens 

 6, very rarely 3, inserted on the limb of the inner calyx, three 

 alternate opposite the sepals and adnate to them : anthers 2-celled, 

 introrse : female flowers very shortly pedicelled : calyx double, 

 3-sepaled, persistent, outer one often remote from the inner one, 

 more or less regular: ovary sessile, 3-coccous, cocci l-ovuled: style 

 one : stigmas 3, simple : capsule 3-cocoous, loculicidally dehiscing : 

 seeds mostly ribbed. — Marshy stemless plants : leaves grassy, quite 

 entire, sometimes fistular : peduncles simple, scapiform, sulcately 

 angular, sheathed at the base, 1 -headed at the apex: capitules in- 

 volucrated with empty bracts : receptacle hairy : bracts surrounding 

 the flowers and calyxes, usually white with thiokish white opaque 

 hairs. 



