12 
PLANTS INDIGENOUS TO 
[ Cabombete. 
or ternate. Peduncles axillary or lateral, one-flowered. Plowers hermaphrodite, 
white, yellowish or sordid-purple. Seeds often rough or streaked.— Torrey 8f Gray , 
Flora of North America , i. p. 54 ; Fndliclier , Genera , p. 901 ; Lindley , Vegetable 
Kingdom , iii. p . 412. 
The plants forming the small order of Cabombem are only to be found in tropical 
and in northern temperate America, and in eastern extratropical and subtropical 
Australia. They establish a transit from Hanunculacese to Nymphseaceae, and seeming 
also to Ceratophylleae, and have indeed been referred to the former, after the suggestion 
of Jussieu, by Batsch and G. Gardner (Hook. Icon, Plant. 641). The species of 
Cabomba resemble in habit the Ranunculi of the Batrachium section, and also to 
some extent those of Ceratophyllum, whilst those of Brasenia may, in external 
resemblance, be compared to Caltlia. Were it not for the structure of the seeds, 
fully elucidated by Sclileiden, the view of Gardner, that they should form a tribe 
intermediate between Ranunculeoe and Helleborese, could be readily adopted. 
BRASENIA. 
Sclireber , Gen. p. 3 72. 
Sepals 3-4, colored within. Petals 3-4, not auriculate. Stamens 12-36. Anthers introrse 
linear. Ovaries 4-18, with a sessile compressed cylindrical not terminal minute stigma. 
An American and Australian water plant, with epidermis of stem, peduncle and lower page of 
leaves thickly gelatinous, with long-stalked uniformly oval leaves and dull purplish flowers.— Cand, 
Syst. Veg. ii . p. 37 ; Asa Gray , Popular Flora, 121. 
Brasenia peltata, Pursh, Flor . Bor. Americ. ii. p. 389; A. Gray Sf Sprague, Gen. Flor. Amer. 
Bor. 39; B. Hydropeltis, Rajin. Medic. Flor. of United States , 1 . 17 ; Hydropeltis purpurea, L. C. Richard , 
in Michaux ’ Flor. Bor. Amer. i. 324, t. 29; Lamarck , Encycl. Meth. t . 967 ; Sims, Bot. Mag. 1. 1147; 
Turpin , Bictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles , t. 81; Annal. Nat. Hist. 1853, t. 3. 
In the Campaspe River, according to Mr. Walter Hill. Extends to the tropic of Capricorn, along the 
east coast of Australia, and is also a native of North America. 
Steins long, terete. Leaves oval or elliptical, perfectly entire, 2-4 inches long, l|-2 inches broad, with 
radiating beneath prominent nerves, net-veined, on very long petioles. Peduncles generally shorter than 
the petioles, inserted aside the base of the latter. Sepals oblong-lanceolate, of the flow’er about 4 lines, of the 
fruit about 6 lines long. Petals of the flower nearly | inch, of the fruit almost 1 inch long, more spreading 
than the sepals, generally more acute and of a deeper purple. Filaments capillary, about as long as 
the anthers, the latter oblong-linear, dark purple, 2 lines long. Pollen-grains ovate-globose, with a longi¬ 
tudinal fissure. Ovaries narrow. Stigma lining the capillary style, nearly 2 lines long, and when fresh ^ line 
broad, persistent. Carpels 2-3 lines long, turgid, gradually tapering into the base and apex, 2-3 lines long, 
more frequently with one than two seeds. Seeds nearly 1J line long', ovate-globose. 
The occurrence of this American species forms, notwithstanding the ascertained extensive range of 
many water plants, still a curious instance of the geographical distribution of many plants over the world, 
inasmuch as it has not yet been noticed in any intermediate country. There appear to be no specific 
differences between the Australian and American plant, nor can we assume that it is of American origin and 
accidentally introduced into this country. 
