FLORA OF THE MALAY PENINSULA 
VOLUME IV 
Order CXXXV. HYDROCHARIDE/E. 
Aquatic herbs; stems short stoloniferous or elongate, leafy. 
Leaves linear-lanceolate or broadly ovate. Flowers regular usually 
unisexual enclosed in a spathe. Sepals free 3; petals white or 
yellow. Stamens 3 to 12; filaments short. Ovary inferior, 1- 
celled; placentas parietal 3 to 6; ovules numerous; style divided. 
Fruit usually baccate, rarely dehiscing. Seeds numerous. Species 
about 50, whole world. (Ridl., Materials for a Flora of the Malay 
Peninsula, vol. i.) 
Fresh-water species. 
Stems elongate leafy; leaves whorled 
Stems elongate leafy; leaves alternate 
Stem short; leaves radical. 
Leaves linear; flowers very small; petals linear 
Leaves large ovate petioled; flowers large; petals 
ovate . ...... 
Marine, rhizome creeping. 
Leaves long linear; male flowers very numerous in a 
large spathe ....... 
Leaves small ovate; males solitary .... 
1. Hydrilla 
2. Enhydrias 
3. Blyxa 
4. Ottelia 
5. Eniialu£ 
6. Halophila 
1. HYDRILLA, L.C. Rich. 
Submerged elongate leafy plant. Leaves short in whorls of 3 
or 4 or below opposite. Flowers in axillary spathes, solitary. 
Males short-pedicelled; sepals ovate; petals narrower; stamens 3; 
anthers ovate. Female sessile, spathe tubular. Ovary except 
long beak enclosed in spathe; styles 3 (rarely 2) linear. Fruit 
narrow. Seeds oblong. One or two species, all Old World tropics. 
(1) H. verticillata Presl, Bot. Bemerk. 112; Ridl., Mat. i. 3. 
Serpicula verticillata Roxb. Corom. PI. t. 164. 
Stem 6 to 12 in. long, slender. Leaves -25 in. long, oblong 
acute, toothed. Hob. Rare. Kelantan in the river at Kamposa. 
2. ENHYDRIAS, Ridl. 
Stems long, leafy. Leaves alternate, narrow linear. Flowers 
solitary, in tubular spathes, bisexual. Perianth-tube long, slender. 
Fl.M.P., 4 B 
