486 
CV. NAIADACEAA 
[Naias. 
Fert. fl. upon a very short pedicel, from the base of which arises a 
■single stamen composed of a long white filament and one anther with 
2 — 4 cells. Style usually half as long as the fruit, sometimes 6 times 
shorter ( Z. polycarpa Nolte), sometimes as long ( Z. pedicellata Fr.), or 
longer (as from the north of India). Length of the stalk of the fruit 
usually in proportion to that of the style. Aclienes sometimes smooth, 
sometimes with a crenate or toothed ridge at the back. Stigma entire 
or crenulate. This has been divided into several species or varieties 
in various ways, according as an author considered the style, stigma, 
fruit or its stalk, to yield the best characters. See Reichenbach PI. 
Crit. viii. f. 1003 — 1006, and Ic. Fl. Germ. vii. p. 9. t. 16; Stein- 
heil in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 2. ix. p. 87 ; and Wilson in Comp. Rot. 
Mag. i. p. 191. 
4. Naias Linn. Naias. 
Flowers imperfect, destitute of perianth , axillary, solitary. 
— Barren fl. within a calyptriform spatha. Slam. 1, Anther 
nearly sessile, 4-celled. — Fertile fl. without a spatha. Germen 
1, sessile, with one erect ovule. Style 1. Stigmas 2 — 4, elon- 
gated, linear. Fruit with 1 seed. — Named after the Naiades , 
or water-nymphs. 
1. N. flexilis Rostk. (flexible N.) ; leaves narrow linear 
very minutely denticulate, sheaths ciliato-denticulate. Cau- 
linia Willd. 
Bottom of lakes and streams; near Roundstone, Connemara, Gal- 
way : Mr. D. Oliver. If.. 8 Leaves ternate or nearly opposite, 
1-nerved, pellucid, sharply but minutely and remotely denticulate. 
We have not been able to examine the flowers of any of the genus 
in a recent state : the sterile plants have not, we believe, been found 
in this country; we observe four stigmas in the Irish specimens, as 
described by Kunth. 
** Pollen confervoid. Plants growing in the sea. 
5. Zostera Linn. Grass-wrack. 
Flowers imperfect. Stamens and pistils solitary in each 
flower, inserted in 2 rows upon one side of a flat thin spadix. 
Spathp. foliaceous. Anthers ovate, sessile, alternating with the 
ovate germens. Style 1 . Stigmas 2, elongated, linear. Fruit 
with 1 seed (bursting vertically : Wilson). — Named from fuiorijp, 
a. girdle, or riband ; which the leaves somewhat resemble. 
1. Z. marina L. ( broad-leaved G.) ; leaves linear 1 — 7-nerved, 
spadix linear without appendages on the margin, achenes striate. 
JE. B. t. 467. — a. leaves broader 3 — 5-nerved, peduncle of 
the spatha thick shorter than the spadix. — /3. leaves narrow 
1 — 3-nerved, peduncle of the spatha slender as long as or 
longer than the spadix. Z. angustifolia Roth. 
