36 
VAUGHAN MacCAUGHEY 
± 0.4 m. longa, axi primario crasso, piloso, bracteis primariis conspicuis quidem sed 
tamen quam ramuli axiilares multo brevioribus, linearibus, apice subrotundatis, 
glabris, integerrimis vel basin versus obscure denticulatis, 15 mm. vix excedentibus, 
ramulis basi brevissime sterilibus, suberectis, pilosulis, primum dense demum in 
florum statu 9 elongatis laxius quaquaverse flores 00 gerentibus, usque ad 150 mm. 
longis mihi visis sueto brevioribus; flores sessiles, 5 mm. longi, glaberrimi; ovarium 
laeve, breviter lateque cylindricum, apice vix constrictum, minute 4-lineatum; sepala 
brevissima, late squamiformi-triangularia, apice acuminulata, 0.5 mm. longa; petala 
glabra, ex ungue brevi late lineari in laminam baud multo latiorem, cucullatam, apice 
obtusam producta, =h 2 mm, longa; stamina quam petala sat breviora, crassa, an- 
theris fere orbicularis, apice obtusis, laevibus, quam filamenta brevissima crassaque 
longioribus; styli crasse cylindrici apice acuti, dense papilloso-villosi. 
"Bacca exsucca, globosa, laevis, ±2.5 mm. diam. metiens." 
The family Halorrhagaceae Schindler^ comprises seven genera. 
The family includes aquatic and terrestrial perennial herbs of widely 
diverse habit; some are minute, others, like the Hawaiian species, are 
titanic in size. The flowers are small, axillary or in terminal racemes 
or panicles, bi- or uni-sexual, regular; sepals usually 4, petals usually 
4 or o; stamens 8, the outer opposite the petals, or 4, rarely fewer; 
ovary inferior, 1-4-loculed, each locule one-ovuled; fruit nut-like, 
often crowned by the calyx. 
The representation and geographic distribution of the genera is as 
follows : 
1. Loudonia Lindl. — 3 species; Australia. 
2. Halorrhagis Forst. — about 60 species; Australia, Tasmania, New 
Zealand, Chatham I., New Caledonia, Chile, Juan Fernandez, 
China, Lower India. 
3. Meziella Schindler — I species; Australia, aquatic. 
4. Laurenbergia Berg. — 18 species; Africa, Mauritius, Bourbon, 
Ceylon, East Indies, Java. 
5. Froserpinaca L. — 2 species; "Mermaid Weed"; North Arnerica, 
Canada to Guatemala, in standing and slow-running water. 
6. Myriophyllum L. — 36 species; "Parrot's Feather"; cosmopoli- 
tan, all continents, including Australia and many islands. 
7. Gunner a L. 
The last genus, Gunnera, was named in honor of Ernst Gunner, 
a Swedish bishop and botanist (17 18-1773), who wrote a local flora. 
In Gunnera the leaves are radical, ovate or orbicular, and often gigan- 
tic. The flowers are perfect, or rarely imperfect monoecious or poly- 
^ Britton and Brown use the spelling Haloragidaceae, and include the genus 
Hippuris, making eight genera. 
