PIXE-APPLE FAillLT. 



349 



length of the anthers ; akene obovate, with a long and curved beak i or J 

 its length. 



Variable Sagittaeia. Arrow-head. 



Root perennial producing oval flashy tubers (or rhizoma-?) 1-2 or 3 inctics in diameter. 

 Leaves 3 or4-S or 10 inches long (including the lobes), and 1 or 2-6 inches wide, 

 sagittate-lob ed at base, — the lobe? ovata-lanceolate, about as long as the lamina of the leaf ; 

 jj€<ioZes 4-12 or 15 inches long. Scape 9 -IS inches high, smooth. Pedicels one quarter 

 to half an inch long, with membranaceous bracts at base. PisUllate Jioicers with ovaries 

 forming depressed globose heads, which, in fruit, are one-half to two-thirds of an inch in 

 diameter. 



Ditches and swampy springs ; throughout the United States. J"?. July -August. Fr. 

 September - October. 



Obs. This plant frequently occurs in ditches and swampy places, and 

 is of a size to attract the notice of the observing farmer. Some halt- 

 dozen varieties, founded on the variation in size and shape of the leaves, 

 are described. Kalm says that the Indians and Swedes called the plant 

 Kntniss" ; and that the tubers were sometimes ■• as big as a man's fisf ; 

 that when roasted, they tasted well, but were rather dry. (See Travels, 

 vol. 2, pp. 96, 97.) Hogs are fond of the tubers, — and when these ani- 

 mals have access to their place of growth, are apt to disfigure the 

 ground very much by rooting. Draining is the remedy for this, and for 

 most other aquatic weeds. 



The Alisma PlantagO, L., or Water Plantain, (belonging to a genus 

 which represents the Order.) is frequent in wet places, — and at one time 

 made some noise among gossiping dealers in marvellous specifics, as a 

 certain remedy for Hydrophobia ; but it was soon forgotten, — and is 

 DOW scarcely noticeable, even as a weed. 



OkderLXXY. BROMELIA'CEJE. (Pixe-apple Family.) 



Chiefly tropical herbs or suflfruticose plants, often stemless with perennial rhizomas and 

 mostly by rigid, dry and channelled leaves sheathing at base and scurfy or scaly on the 

 surface. i^Zou-ers perfect, spicate, racemose, or paniculate, bracteate. Sepals 3. Petals 

 3. Stamens 6, or more. Ovary free, or adnate to the calyx, 3-celled ; style trigonous, 

 simple or sometimes separable into 3 ; stigmas 3. FruU 3-celled, baccate and indehiscent, 

 or more frequently capsular and septicidally (or sometimes loculicidally) 3-valved. Seeds 

 mostly numerous ; testa coriaceous ; embryo small, straight or curved, in the base of mealy 

 albumen. 



The plant of chief interest, in this Order, is that which affords the delicious Pine-apple ; 

 the fruit of which is formed by the consolidation or blending of the imperfect flowers, 

 bracts, and receptacle into one fleshy succulent mass, which is usually crowned with a 

 terminal tuft of leaves. 



1. TH^LAXD'SIA, L. ^ Loxg Moss. 



[Xamed in honor of Elias TUlands. a Swedish Botanist.] 



Calyx free from the ovary, unequally 3-parted, persistent, — the segments 

 somewhat convolute. Corolla 3-cleft, tubular below, spreading above. 

 Stamens 6. hypogynous, — the alternate ones mostly adhering to the 

 petals; anthers incumbent. Ovary 3-celled ; style filiform or dilated at 

 apex, straight or twisted. Capsule cartilaginous, cylindrical or ovoid, 



