AKACE.E. 347 



long, entirely covered with perfect flowers. PERIANTH 

 deeply 4-purted, persistent. Stamens 4, opposite the pe- 

 •rianth lobes, with short filaments. Style 4-angled, with a 

 ■minute stigma. Seeds berry-like, imbedded in the enlarged 

 and spongy spadix. — Perennial herbs, pervaded with a strong 

 odor, wif/i a thick descending rofftsfodk bearing coarse fibrous roofs, 

 rind a clutter of very large and entire veiny leaves, preceded by the 

 nearly sessile epaihes. 



S. Fc:tidus, Salisb. Common Skun7c Callage. 



Leaves ovate, heart-shaped, short- petiokd; spadix globular, much shorter than 

 ■the epathe. (Ictodcs, Bigl.) 



Moist grounds', common. Man -h, April. Learns 1 to 2 feet long:, smooth. Spathe 

 spotted and strij ed w.Uh,purj)le and yellowish-green, ovnte, incurred. Fruit ripe 

 in St-pt« fdrming a rough and globular mass, 2 to 3 inches ia diameter, in decay 

 .^bedGJng tLe bulbh t-like seeds. Medicinal. 



5. OEONTIUM, Linn. Golden-club. 



An ancient name, of. obscure origin. 



SrATHE none. Flowers crowded all over a cylindrical 

 epadix, perfect ; the lower with a 6-parted perianth and 6 

 f tamens, the upper with 4. Ovary free, 1-cellcd ; stigma 

 sessile, minute. Fruit a green utricle or dry berry.— An 

 ^aquatic perennial, with a deep root stock, long-petioled and entire 

 nerved footing leaves, and the spadix terminating the scapes which 

 ihicIiC7i upwards, covered with yellow fowers. 



■0. aquaticum, L. Common Golden-club. 



Leaves ovate-lanceolate ; spike or spadix cylindricon a club-shaped scape. 



Ponds and marshes. May. Leaves 6 to 10 inches long, % to %as wide, smoofh 

 -of a deep green, velvet-like above,.paler beneath. Scape 8 to 15 inches long, end- 

 .ing in a spadix cf a rich yellow color, covered with small perfect yellow flowers- 



'6. ACOftUS, Linn. Calamus. 



^•r. a, privative, and Jcore, the pupil of the eye ; a supposed remedy for sore eyes. 



'Sr-ADix lateral, sessile, emerging from t'he side of a scapa 

 which resembles the leaves, densely covered with flowers. 

 Perianth 6-sepaled. Stamens G. Ovary 1, free.: stig- 

 ma minute, sessile. Fruit at length dry, 1-few-seeded. — 

 .Pungent aromatic plants, especially the thick creeping rooistocki, 

 xjuhich send tip ens if arm leaves, and foliaceous scapes bearing iht 

 spadix o?i one edge. 



A. Calamus, L. Sweet Flag. Common Calamus. 



Scape prolonged and leaf-like far beyond the cylindrical spadix. 



Margins of streams and wet medows, not rare. June. Rhizcma horizontal, 

 aromatic. Zcoves sword-sbaped, 2 to 3 feet long, and y~ to % inch wide. £padim 

 2 to 3 inches long, sessile on the sideof the scape, sorexed with minut* -greenish, 

 .flowers. 



