800 



THK ALISMA FAMILY. 



Fig. 963. 



in length, dilated and sheathing at the 

 base. Flower stems from 6 inches to a 

 foot high, bearing in their upper half a 

 slender spike of small yellowish-green 

 flowers, which are at first sessile, but 

 as the fruiting advances the pedicels 

 lengthen to 1 or 2 lines. Perianth- 

 segments broadly ovate, the feathery 

 stigmas just appearing above them. 

 After they fall off, the fruit lengthens to 

 about 3 lines by less than a line broad, 

 tapering at the base ; when ripe it sepa- 

 rates from the base upwards into 3 car- 

 pels, leaving a central axis. 



In wet meadows, and marshes, and 

 on the shallow edges of streams, more 

 especially in maritime districts, in Eu- 

 rope, central and Russian Asia, and 

 North America, extending from the Me- 

 diterranean to the Arctic regions. Com- 

 mon in Britain. Fl. all summer. 



2. Sea Triglochin. Triglochin maritimum, Linn. (Fig. 964.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 255.) 



Very near the marsli T., but usually 

 rather stouter, with more succulent leaves, 

 the flowers nearly similar ; but even in 

 that state the ovary is broader, with 6 

 cells, and the ripe fruit is not more than 

 2 lines long, more than a line broad, and 

 divides into 6 carpels. 



In Europe, generally more restricted 

 to the vicinity of the sea than the marsh 

 jT., but equally abundant with that species 

 in the salt-marshes of the northern he- 

 misphere, and in central Asia it ascends 

 also high up in mountain-ranges. Com- 

 mon in Britain. Ft. from spring till late 

 in autumn. 



Fig. 964. 



