'M ALISMAOEAB. 



2. T. concinna Davy. SLENDER Abeow-GRASS. Scapes very slender and 

 racemes looser than m the preceding, 7 to L3 in. high; leaves usually less than 

 1 line wide; (lowers about % line long; carpels rather less than 2 lines long; 

 fruiting pedicels loss obviously decurrent. 



With the preceding. 



2. LILAEA H.B.K. 



Sub-aquatic annual with fibrous roots and basal rush-like leaves sheathing at 

 base. Flowers in spikes raised on scapes and also with solitary pistillate flowers in 

 the axils of the basal leaves. Spikes unisexual or with perfect flowers in the mid- 

 dle, pistillate below and staminate above, all in the axils of bracts except the 

 pistillate. Staminate flowers consisting of a single stamen. Perfect flowers 

 made up of a stamen and a pistil. Pistillate flowers consisting of a single pistil 

 with short style, those in the axils of the basal leaves with extraordinarily long 

 styles. Fruits coriaceous, flatfish, oblong-ovate, winged, longitudinally ribbed, 

 1 -seeded, i ndehiscent, those in the axils of the basal leaves less compressed and 

 wingless. 



1. L. subulata H.B.K. Leaves cylindrical, 6 to S in. long, 1 to 2 lines in 

 diameter, tapering to a point; spikes dense, % in. long or less; basal pistillate 

 flowers often with a style 1 to 3 in. long, their fruits larger than those of 

 the spike, 2y 2 to 3 lines long. 



In water or mud of shallow vernal pools, British Columbia, coast region of 

 middle California (where it is common) to Southern California. 



ALISMACEAE. Water-Plantain Family.' 



Marsh or aquatic herbs with radical leaves, scape-like flower stems and per- 

 fect or unisexual flowers. Perianth of 3 outer herbaceous persistent sepals, and 

 3 inner white deciduous petals. Stamens 6 or numerous. Ovaries numerous, dis- 

 tinct, 1-celled, 1-ovuled, becoming achenes in fruit. Endosperm none; embryo 

 strongly recurved or folded. 



Stamens 6; achenes in a single whorl 1. Alisma. 



Stamens numerous; achenes in a dense head. 



Flowers unisexual 2. Sagittaria. 



Fertile flowers with stamens 3. Lophotocakpus. 



1. ALISMA L. 



Erect herbs, growing in shallow water or mud, with radical long-petioled 

 Leaves. Inflorescence a panicle consisting of whorled branches each bearing a 

 simple or compound umbel of perfect flowers. Perianth of 3 outer small herba- 

 ceous segments, and .", much larger inner ones, these petal-like and very delicate. 

 Stamens 6, with short filaments. Ovaries distinct on a disk-like receptacle. 

 A.chenes aumerous, channeled on the back, crowded in a whorl. (Alisma, the 

 Creek name.) 



1. A. plantago L. Wateb Plantain. Bootstock perennial, becoming 

 almost bulbous by the sheathing bases of the petioles; leaves radical, the blades 

 elliptic-oblong, acute. 2 in. long, varying to 8 in. long and 3 in. broad and 



tapering from the middle to each end. on petioles twice as long; (lowering 



stems I 1 - to 2*A ft. high, the whorled branches unequal in Length and forming 



;i loose, pyramidal panicle; flowers white, on pedicels 1 in. long or less; petals 



l Line Long; achenes very strongly flattened, oblong, 1 line long, 17 to 25 in 



the whorl. 



Common along the margins of ponds, rivers, and marshy shores of hikes: 

 San Francisco; Alameda; Stockton; lower Sacramento; Napa Valley. The, 

 aquatic forms have very narrow Leaves. 





