668 POLYANDRIA. POLYGYNIA. Zostera. 
S-. aloi'des. Leaves triangular-sword-shaped: edge serrate with 
prickles. 
(E. Bot. 379. E.)— FI. Dan. 337 —Mill III.—Bergen de Aloide at p. 1—■ 
Dod. 589. 1— Lob . Obs. 204. 1, and Ic. i. 375. 2 — Ger. Em. 825— Ger. 
677—Park. 1249. 1— J. B. iii. 787. I—Pet. 71. 5. 
(A stonoliferous aquatic, with numerous radical leaves , six to nine inches 
long, resembling those of an aloe. Flower-stalk solitary, shorter than 
the leaves, single-flowered. Flower white, large. Stamens and Pistils 
generally in the same flower, but they have been observed on different 
plants; and where they are found in the same flower, the anthers are 
barren. Linn. (Smith explains that such plants are not to be considered 
dioecious, but rather as exhibiting casual imperfections, the anthers in 
one flower, the stigmas in another, not unfrequent in plants that increase 
much by root. E.) 
Water Aloe. Fresh-water Soldier. Slow streams, and fen ditches. 
In Norfolk and Suffolk, frequent. Mr. Woodward. (Also in the marshy 
parts of Lincolnshire, and Cambridgeshire. E.) In pools about four 
miles from Holmes Chapel, Cheshire. Mr. Hunter. In the Gyme, near 
Thom, Yorkshire. Mr. Robson. (Near Beverley. Col. Machell. Lownd- 
ham Hall Mere, Suffolk. Crabbe. At Bradwell, and elsewhere about 
Yarmouth; on Haddisco Dam, close by the turnpike-gate. Mr. Wigg. 
In abundance on Hoveton Common, Norfolk. Mr. Dawson Turner. Near 
the New Bridge at Gainsborough. Sir T. G. Cullum. Bot. Guide. Ponds 
at Nether Witton, Northumberland. Mr. Winch. In an outlet of the 
Ouse, below Hartford. Dr. Baumgartner. Duddingston, Clunie, and 
Forfar lochs. Hook. Scot. Canal near Drogheda. Mr. Murphy. E.) 
P. June—July.* 
POLYGYNIA. 
ZOSTE'RA. Spike-stalk strap-shaped, concealed within a 
grass-like leaf, bearing the fructifications on one side : 
Cal. none : Bloss. none: Siam, alternate: Caps, alter¬ 
nate : Seeds solitary. 
Z. mari^na. Capsules sessile: (leaves strap-shaped, long, flaccid. E.) 
(Hook. FI. Lond. 35— E. Bot. 467. E.)— FI. Dan. 15. 
Stems much branched, (two or three feet long, radicating. E.) Leaves 
floating, long, grass-like, blunt, from leaf-scales sheathing, pointed. 
Flowers in a spadix, three or four inches long, on one side of the leaf near 
* In the autumn the plants sink to the bottom of the water, and in the spring from 
amongst the leaves of the old plants arise numerous thick suckers, each bearing a young 
plant, which floats on the surface, where it grows to maturity. Sometimes eight or ten 
form a circle on the surface, to which the strings are radii, and the old plant at the bottom 
the centre, and in this manner they frequently entirely fill up ditches, to the exclusion of all 
other herbage. I should suppose the parent plant decays, as the floating plants shoot out 
fibres, which, if they do not sooner, on sinking probably lay hold of the mud, and these, I 
apprehend, produce the fresh offspring. If such be its mode of growth, it is an example of 
a biennial of a very singular nature. Woodward. A great variety of insects are nourished 
by this plant; some of them pursue it down to the bottom of the water, and devour the 
leaves. Swine eat it. Goats refuse it. (As a curious, if not beautiful, vegetable, it is 
worthy of propagation. E.) 
