HEXANDRIA POLYGYNIA 237 



tioles an long, or longer, than the leaves,— the upper ones on short petioles, and 

 sometimes not hastate. Racemes paniculate, finally becoming purple ; verticilj 

 dimidiate, 6 to 8 flowered. Slaminute flowers with the ovary abortive, Pistillat* 

 plants mostly taller than the staminatc. 



Hab. Sandy fields ; about old stumps of trees : common. Fl. May. Fr. Aug. 



06s. This plant is well known for its acid taste ; and is sometimes so abundant 

 as to bo a nuisance. Dressing the land with Lime is believed to be the best meant 

 of expelling it. Tho pistillate plants are much less common than the staminato. 

 Ten or a dozen additional species have been enumerated in the U. States; but il 

 is difficult to say how many of them are really indigenous. 



[Alctris farinosa. Hexandria Monogynia*] 



Order 4- Tctragynia* 



190. 8AURURU3. L. JSTutt. Gen. 354. 



[Greek, Saura, a lizard, and Oura,a tail ; in allusion to its spike of flowers.] 



Flowers in an anient, or crowded spike. Scales 1 -flowered. Corolla 



0. Stamens 6 to 8 ; anthers adnatc to the filaments. Ovaries 3 or 

 4, connate; styles 3 or 4, recurved. Capsules 3 or 4, united, each 

 1- or rarely 2-seedcd, not opening. 



Herbaceous aquatics: leaves alternate; flowers naked, in solitary pedunculate 

 •pikes, opposite the leaves. Nat. Ord. 139. Lindl. Saururb.*. 



1. S. cerxuus, Jj. Leaves sagittate-cordate, acuminate; spike at 

 first cernuous. Beck, Hot. p. 317. 



Nodding Saururus, Vulgd— Lizard's Tail. Breast weed. Water lilies. 



Root perennial, creeping, thick and porous. Stem 1 to 2 feet high, leafy, forked 

 above, angular and sulcate, smoothish. Leaves 4 to G inches long, and 2 to 4 inches 

 wide, smooth, glaucous beneath; petioles I to 2 inches long, somewhat ampleai- 

 caul at base. Spike 3 to 6 inches long, slender, white, and nodding at apex when 

 in flower, very pubescent, on a peduncle 2 to 4 inches long, inserted opposite a 

 leaf on one of the forks of the stem. Flowers naked, on short pedicels, with co. 

 bred pubescent sheathing somewhat spatulate bracts t at base, about as long as the 

 ovaries. Stamens 6, often 7 or 8, twice as long as the bracts, slender, inserted at 

 the base of the ovaries. 



Hab. Margins of pools, and streams: not common. Fl. Juno— July. Fr> Sept. 



Obs. This plant is found along the Schuylkill,— also in the Great Valley, and 

 at the forks of Brandy wine; but it is by no means common in the County. The fresh 

 roots, bruised and applied in the form of poultice, are a popular remedy for in- 

 flamed breasts. It is the only species in the United States. 



Order 6. Polygyria. 



191. ALISMA. L. Mitt. Gen. 356. 

 [Said to be from the Celtic, Alis, water; its usual place of growth.] 



Perianth deeply 6-parted ; the 3 outer segments scpaloid, persistent, 

 the 3 inner ones petaloid, deciduous. Ovaries suj>erior, numerous ; stylet 

 short. Capsules numerous, mostly 1 -seeded, not opening. 



Herbaceous aquatics : leaves radical, with parallel veins; flowers in a terminal 

 compound verticil late panicle. Nat. Ord. 2*29. Lindl. Alismackaj. 





