Butomus.~\ 
XCIX. ALISMACEA2. 
469 
** Perianth conspicuous; three inner or all the sepals much 
developed and petaloid. Albumen wanting. Aquatic or 
marshy plants with the nerves of the leaves longitudinal. 
(Ok d. XCYIII. XCIX.) 
Ord. XCYIII. BUTOMACEiE Rich. 
Perianth of 6 sepals, the 3 inner petaloid. Stamens definite 
or indefinite, hypogynous. Ovaries 6, or more, distinct, or 
slightly cohering at the axis or at the base. Ovules nume- 
rous in each cell or carpel, anatropal or rarely campulitropal. 
Stigmas as many as ovaries, simple. Follicles several. Seeds 
minute, numerous, attached to a reticulate placenta , covering 
the whole inner surface of each follicle. Albumen 0. Embryo 
straight with the radicle next the hilum, or very rarely curved 
like a horse-shoe. — Aquatics, heaves very cellular. Flowers 
umbellate, handsome. 
1. Butomus Linn. Flowering-rush. 
Perianth single, coloured, 6-partite, inferior. Stamens 9, 6 
in an outer, 3 in an inner row. Follicles 6, rostrate, many- 
seeded. Seeds longitudinally striate. Embryo straight. — 
Named from povg, an ox, and repvco to cut; because the sharp 
leaves injure the mouths of cattle that browse upon them. 
1. B. umbellatus L. ( common F.) ; leaves linear-subulate 
trigonous, spatha of 3 leaves. E. B. t. 651. 
Ditches and ponds, frequent in England and Ireland. Duddingston 
Loch, and Loch of Clunie, Scotland, but only where it has been 
planted. if.. 6, 7. — Leaves all radical, 2 — 3 feet long, linear, acu- 
minate, acutely triangular. Scape longer than the leaves, terete. 
Umbel of many rose-coloured flowers, on pedicels about 4 inches long, 
with scariose sheathing bracteas at the base, and these having a tri - 
phyllous membranous spatha or involucre beneath them. Style about 
as long as the ovary, recurved at the apex ; stigma lateral. 
Ord. XCIX. ALISMACE.® R. Brown. 
Perianth of 6 sepals : 3 outer ones herbaceous, 3 inner peta- 
loid. Stamens hypogynous. Anthers introrse. Ovaries several, 
distinct or slightly united at the base, each 1 -celled. Ovules 
solitary, or 2 superposed, attached to the inner angle of the 
carpel, campulitropal. Pericarps indehiscent. Seeds solitary, 
or 2 attached to the suture at a distance from each other, 
erect or ascending. Albumen 0. Embryo undivided, curved 
like a horse-shoe. — Aquatics. Leaves radical on long stalks. 
