778 



THE ARUM FAMILY. 



book. It is however a larger plant, and has the long styles or points 

 of the fruit of the simple S. It is distinguished as a fourth species in 

 the ' British Flora ' and in Babington's Manual. 



3. Small Sparganium. Sparganium minimum, Fries. 

 (Fig. 935.) 



An aquatic plant ; the weak stems as- 

 cending to the surface of the water, on 

 which the long, narrow leaves float. 

 Flower-heads very few, with long, linear 

 bracts ; the 2 or 3 lowest ones female, 

 and often shortly stalked. Fruiting 

 heads smaller than in the last two 

 species, and the styles or points to the 

 fruits very much shorter. 



In lakes and pools, in northern and 

 Arctic Europe, Asia, and America ; and 

 in the high mountain-ranges of southern 

 Europe and central Asia. In Britain, 

 more frequent in Scotland and Ireland 

 than in England. Fl. summer. 



Fig. 935. 



LXXV. THE ARUM FAMILY. AROIDE.E. 



Herbs, with the rootstock often tuberous but not bulbous ; the 

 veins of the leaves sometimes branched or even netted, almost as 

 in Dicotyledons. Flowers closely packed in a dense spike, called 

 a sjpadix, with a leaf-like or coloured bract at the base, called a 

 spatha. The stamens and ovaries either in different parts of the 

 spike or mixed together, without any perianth, or separated by- 

 small scales, which rarely form a small regular perianth. Ovary 

 with 1 or several cells, each with 1 or more ovules. Fruit a berry. 

 Seeds with or rarely without albumen. 



A considerable family, chiefly from the tropical and warmer parts 

 of the globe, where many acquire a considerable size, or climb up the 

 stems of trees. The large spatha and broad leaves are at once cha- 



