PLATE DCXXIX. 



DESMAN THUS NATANS. 

 Floating Desmanthus, or Aquatic Sensitive. 



CLASS XXIIL ORDER L 

 POLYGAMIA MONCECIA. Various DIsposiiions upon one Plant. 



GENERIC CFIARACTER. 



Hermaph. Calyx S-dentatus. Corolla 5-pe- 



tala vel 5-partita. Stamina 10. Pistillum 



1. Legunien bivalve. 

 Neuter. Calyx 5-dentatus. Corolla 5-petala 



vel 5-partita vel nulla. Stamina 10, steri- 



lia, lanceolato-dilatata. 



Blossom S-petalled 

 10. Style 1. Pod 



Hermaph. Cup 5-toothed. 

 or 5-parted. Stamens 

 2-valved. 



Neuter. Cup 5-tootbed, Blossom 5-pelalled or 

 5-parted or none. 'Stamens 10, sterile, en- 

 larged into a lance-shape. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Desmanthus inermis, folils bipinnatis, partiali- 

 bus trijugis, propriis tredecimjngis, spicis 

 oblongis, interruptis, pediinculo nudo, caule 

 tereti, radicante. IVitld. Sp. PI. 4. p. 1044. 



Unarmed Desmanthus, with doubly pinnate 

 leaves, the partial wings in 3 pairs, the pro- 

 per in 13, the spikes oblong, interrupted, 

 the flower- stalk naked, the stem round and 

 rooting. 



REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 



1 . Empalement and blossom. 



2. Stamens and pointal, one anther magnified. 



3. Seed-bud and pointal, summit magnified. 



This little delicate aquatic, growing naturally in pools and lakes of fresh water in India and Cochin- 

 china, and quivering at every breeze, its roots having no attachment to the soil, and the foliage yield- 

 ing but little to that of th§ Mimosa pudica in sensibility, forms a most striking contrast to the Anneslea 

 spinosa of our 12Sth number. Father Loureiro, who calls it Neptunia oleracea, informs us that in 

 China and Cochinchina, where they cultivate it as a salad herb in pools and slow-flowing streams, 

 they are accustomed to tie the plants to stakes, to prevent (heir floating to a distance. 



A d'.-scription of the plant, accompanied by an elegant figure, will be found in the 2d volume of Dr. 

 Roxburgh's Plants of the Coast of Coromandel, under the name of Mimosa natans ; but from the 

 total dissimilatity between the fruit and that of the genus Mimosa, we have preferred following the 

 arrangement of Professor Willdenow. The specimens from which the drawing was taken were ob- 

 ligingly communicated by Mr. Milne last September from FonthiU. The plant is annual, and according 

 to Mr. Donn's Catalogue (where see Mimoba natans) was inlroduced to this country in .802. 



