188 PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



Sub-class II. ENDOGEjXM. Monocotyledones. 



These plants are generally to be distinguished by their leaves. 

 They are naturally divided into two tribes ; 



PETALoiDEiE, from their petals forming a whorled assemblage, 

 as in the preceding plants of polypetaloidal corolla, or else 

 achlamydeous ; and 



GLUMACEiE, having imbricated floral organs. 



TRIBE I. PETALOIDE.E. 



ORDER 229. ALISMACE.E. Water-Plantain Tribe. 



Sepals, or leaves of the calyx, 3, and petals also 3 ; stamens 

 various in number ; ovaries several, superior and 1 -celled, having 

 each its style ; fruit dry, not opening ; leaves with parallel veins ; 

 more or less floating plants. 



The herbage is commonly acrid, but the roots of some species 

 are eatable. The plants of this order are not very numerous, 

 and grow chiefly in northerly regions. 



Alisma. L. 6. 12. 

 Named from the Celtic for water, as the plants grow in water or 

 wet places ; 10 known species ; 1 in this State. 



Ji. plantago. L. Water Plantain. Stem 2 feet high, branch- 

 ing, with broad nerved leaves, like the common Plantain, and 

 hence its name in English as well as in Botany ; petals white ; 

 July. The panicle is pyramidal with whorled branches ; root 

 bulbous with numerous radicles or fibres. It has been greatly 

 commended as a sure relief from hydrophobia. Indigenous also 

 over much of Europe. 



