ELATINACEiE. 



189 



1. Six-Stamened Elatine. Elatine hexandra, DC. (Fig. 174.) 



(F. Hydropiper, Eng. Bot. t. 955. Waterpepper.) 



This little plant forms small, matted, 

 creeping tufts, often under water ; the 

 stems seldom above 2 inches long, and 

 often not half an inch. Leaves small, 

 obovate or oblong, tapering at the base. 

 Pedicels 1 to 2 lines long. Flowers 

 globular, with 3 rose-coloured petals 

 scarcely longer than the calyx. Seeds 

 numerous, beautifully ribbed and trans- 

 versely striated under the microscope. 



Spread over a wide range, in Europe 

 and Russian Asia, but its known stations 

 always few and scattered. In Britain, 

 recorded from several parts of England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland, and probably frequently overlooked from its 

 minuteness. Fl. summer. 



Fig. 174. 



2. Eight-stamened Elatine. Elatine Hydropiper, Linn. 

 (Fig. 175.) 



(Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2670.) 



Included by the older authors with the 

 last, under the name of F. Hydropiper, 

 but differs in having sessile flowers, with 

 4 sepals, petals, and styles, and 8 sta- 

 mens, a more deeply divided calyx, and 

 fewer and larger seeds. 



Scattered over the range of the six- 

 stamened F., and sometimes mixed 

 with it, but more rare. In Britain it 

 has only been observed near Farnham 

 in Surrey, and in Anglesea. Fl. summer. 



Fig. 175. 



XVI. THE HYPERICUM FAMILY. HYPERICINE.E. 



A family confined in Britain to the single genus Hypericum. 

 The tropical genera associated with it differ slightly in the num- 

 ber of parts, or in the arrangement of the stamens or of the seeds, 



m 2 



