POLYANDRIA. POLYGYNIA. Arum. 
669 
the base, which is at first covered with a transparent skin. Woodw. 
(Mr. Wilson communicates the following particulars respecting this 
obscure plant to Prof. Hooker. “ I have found it, as you represent, 
occasionally monoecious, the anthers occupying the lower portion of the 
spadix. In one instance the spadix was entirely covered by sixteen 
pistils, placed two and two, and some in a reversed position; still the 
androgynous character is the most usual. I observed the impregnation 
to take place in contact with water, the anthers and stigmas being 
protruded beyond the folding edges of the sheath. The true or barren 
leaves appear to be essentially different from those bearing fructification ; 
the former being sessile, with an entire sheathing base, closely surround¬ 
ing the stem ; while the fertile leaves are stalked. I therefore consider 
the latter as true spathje, surmounted by bractea, resembling the proper 
leaves. E.) 
Common Grass-wrack. (Welsh: Ysnoden las-werdd y mor, gwellt y 
gamlas. E.) On the sea-shores, almost every where, and in adjacent 
salt water ditches. P. June—Aug.* 
(The real Z. oceanica, admitted into our former Editions on the authority 
of Ray, as having been observed about the Isle of Mersey, and at Ga- 
tham Haven, Portsea, is never found growing on the British shores. E.) 
A'RUM. ( Sheath one leaf, convolute at the base: Fruit- 
stalk naked above, bearing germens below, and sessile 
stamens in the middle : Perianth none. E.) 
A. macula'tum. Stemless: leaves halberd-shaped, entire : spike-stalk 
club-shaped. 
Curt. 114— (E. Bot. 1298. E.)— Biv. Mon. 124. 1; Arum—Mill III .—- 
Blackw. 228— FI. Dan. 505— Woodv. 25— Bull. — Fuchs. 69— J. B. ii. 
784— Dod. 329. 2— Lob. Obs. 325. 2, and Ic . i. 597. 2— Ger. Em. 834. 1 
—II. Ox. xiii. 5. row 3. 1— Lonic. i. 200. 1 —Trag. 77^—Matth. 596- 
Park. 373. 1. 2. 
(Boot tuberous. Plant glabrous. E.) Spike-stalk , or spadix , the upper 
part purple, sometimes buff coloured, or mottled with buff and purple. 
Germens greenish yellow, the upper terminating in a hair-like or awl- 
shaped style or summit, purple at the end. Anthers with two open cells. 
Nectaries, the row above the stamens exactly similar to the upper ger¬ 
mens. Leaves large, glossy, generally spotted with black, and sometimes 
* Thrown on the shore by the tide, in great plenty, and mounds or walls are built with 
it to oppose the encroachment of the sea. Exposure to the weather bleaches it white. 
Buildings are thatched with the green leaves, which will endure upwards of a century. It 
is used by the inhabitants of Gothland, in Sweden, as a manure, and also for stuffing beds, 
in preference to hay, as being softer. (Much ha9 been imported for such purposes, but the 
Highland Society now encourage the collecting of it on our own shores. E.) Horses and 
swine eat it. Cows are not fond of it. (The minute Conferva zostericola, FI. Dan. 
1599.1. is a parasitic of this plant: also Ulva plantaginea, Gray; and Berkeleya 
fragilis , Grev. Scot. Crypt. 294; u Of a reddish-brown colour, roundish form, consisting 
of a gelatinous mass or receptacle, less than half an inch in diameter, and a number of 
filaments which spring from its surface, and contain fusiform granules.” And still more 
worthy of attention, Exilaria fiabellata ; most elegantly illustrated in Grev. Scot. Crypt. 
289, and thus described :—“ Branched, elongated, the branches hyaline, alternate, 
spreading.” Investing the leaves of Zostera for several inches together, when dry 
shining with metallic lustre. Stem erect, one-third of an inch in length, branched, pel¬ 
lucid, colourless. Branches terminated by fan-shaped expansions, composed of wedge- 
shaped, hyaline, yellow bodies, very deciduous.” E.) 
