■314 rODOSTEMACE-E. 



in their axil?, usually between a pair of l/racts, without proper floral envelope.:.— 

 "Prut 4-cellcd, 4-lobed and 4-seedcd, consisting only of the genus 



C ALLITEICHE, Linn. Water-Star wort. 



Gr. kales, beautiful, thrix, irichos, hair ; alluding to the slender Items. 



Stamens 1, rarely 2 : filaments slender : anthers 1- 

 celled, kidney-form. Styles 2, awl-shaped, distinct. Fiu i r 

 indehiscent, nut-like, 4-lobcd and 4-cclled, but the styles 

 only 2, awl-shaped, distinct. Seed solitary and suspended, 

 filling each cell, anatropous. — Aquatic small annuals, icitk 

 opposite entire leaves. 



.1. C. VERNA, L. Vernal Water-stancort. 



Leaves 3-nervcd, the floating ones spatulate rr otr.vato, the immersed linear: 

 bracts incurved: styles constantly erect; fruit nearly sessile ; the lobes par a 

 pairs and bluntly keeled on the lack. 



Shallow pools and slow streams, common. May— Sift. Slenx f oating 1 t< . 

 long, composed of 2 tubes, simple or branched. 'Leave* 2 at each joint, 

 crowded above into a star-like tuft upon the surface of the water. Fhwers ■■ 

 ..axillary 1 to 2 together. 



2. C. TLATYCARPA, Kutzing. 

 Fruit nearly sessile; the lobes parallel in pair?, slightly winged on the I 

 styles erect in the flowers, refleied closely over the fruit. Bracts and foliage much, 

 as in the last, the fruit twice as large : growing in similar situations. 



■Order 100. FODOSTEBIACEJE.— River-weed Family 



iquaticS) growing cr. stenrs in running water, resembling Fea-wrol? or Mepst p. 

 the minute naked flowers bursting from a spath'e as in Liverworts, producing a o 



celled many-seeded capsule: represented in North America by the g< nus 



POPOSTEMUM, Hicks. River-weed. 



•Gr. pons, a fcot. and stemen. stamen: the stamen appearing as if on a common 



footstalk. 



Periantd: or bracts^ of 2 to 3 small awl-shaped scales. 

 Stamens 2, rarely 3; filaments mcncdelphous bekw. 

 Styles or stigmas 2, awl-shaped. Capsule 2-celkd, 2- 

 valved, many-ribbed. Seeds minute, very numeral una 

 thick central placentae. — Floxveis axilieuy and solitary, t 

 celled from a tubular spaihe. 



P. CERATornYLLEM, Mic-hx. Thread-foot. 



Leaves rigid, dichotcmcusly diteeot^d; /dements united to alove the middle. 

 Common in the bottom of shallow streams. July. A small olive-grei n pljsnt 

 resembling a Sea-Weed, and teiir,e»or.sly adhering to lcoseslor.es at th< bottom, 

 similar to a Fteus, iy flethj di.-ks ( r processes in the place of riots. Leave* v.xi- 

 merous, alternate divided into several long linctr-lvistly segments,. 1 te 4 ineiK-fi 

 kDg. ± loutrs en sLtrt thick peduncles. 



