82 Mr. C. C. Babington on Anacliaris Alsinastrum, 
the anthers (the filaments existing), and in the somewhat dif- 
ferently shaped stigmas ; in these respects agreeing with Nut- 
talFs description of his genus Udora. It would seem from these 
facts that Bichard^s Anacliaris is the male of NuttalPs Udora, 
in which genus also Elodea canadensis (Michx.) must probably be 
placed. 
It should be observed that the ^ FI. Boreali- Americana^ w^as 
published, from his father’s notes, by the younger Michaux in 
1803, and that as the genus Elodea is found there, it wmuld 
appear that he is the true author of the name, and that the E. 
canadensis is therefore a triandrous plant. But the name Elodea 
is expressly claimed by Bichard (Mem. de FInstit. I8II, Ft. 2. 
p. 4) in these words : genre encore pen connu, et auquel j’ai 
donne le nom di Elodea and as it is well known (as I learn 
from Dr. Planch on) that Bichard greatly assisted the younger 
Michaux in the preparation of his work, although he did not 
allow his name to be placed on its title-page, there can be no 
doubt that this genus was named and described by him. This 
will account for the North American plant being placed in Tri- 
andria, not Dioecia; for E. guyanensis is triandrous, and the look 
of the plants is so similar, that Bichard might well be led to 
consider E. canadensis as of the same structure when inspecting 
dried specimens alone. Of the hermaphrodite structure of E. 
guyanensis Bichard had convinced himself by seeing it alive in 
its native waters, and it is highly probable that he saw only the 
female flowers of E. canadensis, with three barren filaments, and 
considered them as hermaphrodite. 
I need scarcely remark, that Anacliaris (I8II) is by far an 
older name than Udora (1818), and that as it has been shown, 
it is hoped conclusively, that they are synonymous, the former 
must be employed. Nuttall does not seem to have seen Bichard’s 
original paper (Mem. Inst. I8II, Pt. 2), for he quotes a figure 
of the seed from the ^Annales du Museum,’ where a copy of that 
part of the plate of Elodea is inserted. Had he seen the memoir 
itself, he would doubtless have identified his plant with the 
genus Anacliaris, and not have conferred a new name upon it. 
In the Hookerian Herbarium a plant is preserved collected 
by Schweinitz in the United States of America, which Dr. 
Planchon has determined to belong to the genus Elodea, Bich., 
but as that name is employed elsewhere, he proposes to name it 
Aj^alantlie Scliweinitzii. 
The genus Anacliaris may be characterized as follow^s ; — 
Anacharis, Richard. 
Flores dioici. Masc. Spatha tubulosa, ore inflato bifido, uniflora ; 
flore pedicellato. Perianthium sexpartitum, laciniis exterioribus 
