

SPARGANIACEAE. 27 



Common in marshes and marshy places by creeks: Coast Banges, lower Sacra- 

 mento and lower San Joaquin. 



SPARGANIACEAE. Bur-reed Family. 



Marsh or aquatic plants with terete sterns from creeping rootstocks, alternate 

 long-linear 2-ranked leaves and monoecious flowers in globose heads. Fruit 

 obovoid or spindle-shaped, 1 to 2-seeded. 



1. SPARGANIUM L. Bub-reed. 

 Heads scattered along the upper portion of the simple or sparingly branched 

 stem; lower heads pistillate, with leaf like bracts; upper heads staminate. Sta- 

 mens with minute scales interposed, their filaments slender and elongated. 

 Ovaries surrounded by 3 to 6 linear-subulate scales forming a sort of calyx. 

 (Sparganion, the Greek name, diminutive of sparganon, a swaddling-band, on 

 account of the ribbon-like leaves.) 



Pistillate heads 2 on a branch, always sessile; nuts 2 lines wide or less ..1 S. greenci. 



Pistillate heads 2 to 4 on a branch, peduncled or less commonly sessile; nuts mostly 3 



lines wide 2. .V. eurycarpum. 



1. S. greenei Morong. Stems 2 to 5 ft. high; leaves triangular, channeled, 

 partly clasping at base and flattened towards the apex, i/» in. wide; inflorescence 

 branching 7 to 16 in. long; pistillate heads 1 or 2 on a branch, sessile, in fruit 1 

 in. broad; staminate heads 10 to 17 on a branch; nuts broadly cuneate, rounded 

 at summit and with a short beak, obviously but not sharply angular, 4 lines 

 long, 2 (or rather less than 2) lines wide. 



Olema, Marin Co.; Butano Creek, San Mateo Co. Aug. Fruiting in Oct. 



2. S. eurycarpum Engelm. Erect, rather slender, 3 to 8 ft. high, with 

 branching inflorescence; leaves flat and thin, slightly keeled beneath; pistillate 

 heads 2 to 4 on the stem or branch, sessile or more commonly peduncled; 

 staminate heads 5 to 13; heads in fruit % to 1^4 in. in diameter; nuts obovate, 

 many-angled, with a broad rounded or hemispherical summit, tipped with the 

 short style, 3 (or nearly 3) lines broad, 4 lines long, including the style. — (S. 

 calif ornicum Greene.) 



Calistoga, lower Sacramento and southward to Santa Clara Co. June-July. 



NAIADACEAE. Poxdweed Family. 



Water plants entirely submerged or with floating leaves. Leaves thread-like 

 or grass-like or some with broad floating blades, commonly sheathing at base 

 or with sheathing stipules. Flowers inconspicuous, naked or with a very small 

 calyx, commonly borne on a short spike or spadix. Ovaries 1 to 4, distinct, 

 free from the calyx if that be present, 1 -celled, 1-ovuled, ripening into nutlet- 

 like fruits. 



A. Flowers perfect; calyx present. 



Sepals 4, distinct 1. PoTAMOGETON. 



Sepals none 2. Ruppia. 



B. Flowers monoecious or dioecious; calyx none. 



Leaves with spiny-toothed margins; pistil solitary and naked 3. NAIAS. 



Leaves entire. 



Pistils about 4, borne in a cup-shaped involucre; fresh water ponds or streams 



4. Zannichellia. 

 Pistils many, borne on the side of a linear spadix; maritime. 



Flowers monoecious; fruit ovoid; leaves 2 to 4 lines broad 5. Zostera. 



Flowers dioecious; fruit sagittate-cordate; leaves l / 2 to 2 iines broad 



G. Phyllospadix. 

 1. POTAMOGETON L. Pondweed. 

 Perennial herbs, commonly growing in the still waters of creeks and in fresh 

 or brackish ponds, tin- stems arising from rootstocks. Leaves alternate, or the 



