IIYDROCIIARIDACE.E. 355 



and tubular 2-cleft axillary spathe. Sterile flowers 

 minute, with a 6-parted perianth; anthers 9, oval, nearly 

 sessile. Fertile flowers with 3- to 6 oblong anthers, aud- 

 the perianth extended into an extremely long and capillary 

 tube, the small lobes obovate, spreading. Style long and 

 filiform: stigmas 3, large and spreading, 2-lobed. Ovary 

 S-cellcd, with 3 projecting, pointed placentae, each* bearing a 

 few orthotropous ovules* Fruit oblong, coriaceous, few- 

 seeded. — A perennial herb, growing under water, with long 

 branching stems, thickly beset with pellucid and veinless, \nerved T 

 sessile, whorled or opposite leaves, and very small whitish sessile- 

 Jlowers. 



U. Canadensis, Nutt.. I>itch Moss. Water-iceed. 



Ltdvei oblong-orate or lanceolate, finely serrulate, in 3s and 4s; perianth tube 

 filiform. (Elodea Canadensis, Michx. Serpicula verticillata, Muhl.) 



Ponds and slow streams- July. Stem submersed diffusely 2- forked, filiform^ 

 leaves % to % inch loug, less than 1 line wide, thin. Flowers minute, of a din^y 

 •white, tha slender hair like tube 2 to 3 inches long. The stamlnate flowers break. 

 63, and float on the surface, where they expand and shed their pollen to fertilize- 

 the stigoiis, which are raised to the surface by the- excessively prolonged calyi- 

 tuba. 



2. TALLISXEEIA, Micheli. Tape-grass. 



In honor of Antonia VaUimeri, an early Italian botanist. 



Dioecious. Sterile flowers numerous, crowded in * 

 Itead on a conical receptacle, inclosed in an ovate at length 

 3-valved spathe, which is borne on a very short scape : pe- 

 rianth 2-parted : stamens mostly 3-. Fertile flowers 

 solitary and sessile in a tubular spathe which is borne on a* 

 very long scape: perianth elongated, 6-parted; the al- 

 ternate segments linear; tube linear, coherent with the 1- 

 eelled ovary : stigmas 3, large, 2-lobed. Ovules very nu- 

 merous on 3 parietal placentae Fruit elongated, cyliudric,. 

 berry-like, 1-celled, many-seeded. — Stemless plants, with long' 

 and linear grass-Ulce leaves, growing entirely under %cater r 

 and spiral scapes, 



U. SPIRALIS, L. Eel-grass. Tape-grass, 



Leave* linear, thin, long and ribbon-like, obscurely serrulate, obtaaa> aomswhafc 

 »«rved and netted-veined- 



81ow waters, common. Aug. Per. Leaves all radical 1 to>2 feet long, \^ Incfr 

 wide, grass-like, smooth and deep-green. Perianth reddish-white. The stamin ste- 

 el usters of flowerB break away from tho bottom, aa in Udora, and float on the fur- 

 fece, where they expand and shed their pollen around the fertile flowers, which 

 are raised to- tho surface at this time; fertilisation being thus accomplished, the 

 filiform scapes which are 2 to 4 feet long, coil spirally and draw Uw ovary 

 water to ripea. 



