Remarks on the Genera Callitriche and Elatine. 429 
rialis and others of the Euphorbiacee, (to which the genus Coriaria 
ought certainly to be approached,) has induced Richard to refer 
Callitriche to that order ; but surely its place among the Halora- 
gee is much more conformable with its external appearance. May 
the strong rib that passes up the back of each cell in C. verna aud 
pedunculata, and the winged appendage of C. autumnalis, not in- 
dicate an approach to an adherent calyx ? 
Evatine.—In Vol. XIV. of English Botany, a plant is figured 
at Tab. 955, and described by Sir James E. Smith as Elatine hydro- 
piper, which, however, more lately in his English Flora, he saw 
reason to separate from the true EL. hydropiper of Linneus. His 
description I need not give here, but may state that the only parts 
of sit introduced into the specific character, though capable of dis- 
tinguishing it from E. hydropiper, are not sufficient to separate it 
from another and a very different species, and with which, accord- 
ingly, Smith does confound it. Very ample characters are, how- 
ever, given in the detailed description. The new name given by 
Smith, and to our surprise adopted by Mr. Lindley, apparently 
_ without the least examination into its merits, is that of LE. tripe- 
tala, and the plant he and Mr. Lindley confound with it is E. 
triandra of Schkuhr, Hoffmann, and others. But, in his descrip- 
tion, he expressly says that the flowers are alternate, and on pedi- 
cels about the length of the leaves, while E. triandra has been both 
described and figured with the flowers sessile and opposite. What- 
ever stress may be put on the opposite or alternate position of the 
flowers, certainly much consideration ought to be given to the 
great length of the flower stalk in the English plant. Smith cites 
under his Vaillant’s Tab. 2. f. 1., and he is quite correct ;" but it is 
remarkable that, so long ago as 1808, the very same plant was de- 
scribed and figured by Bellardi, in the Turin Transactions, under 
the name of Birolia paludosa, and by De Candolle, at the same 
time, in his Icon. Rar. Tab. 43. f. 1. as Elatine hexandra, with a 
reference to the same figure of Vaillant. It can hardly be sup- 
posed that Smith was unacquainted with the work of De Candolle, 
and I therefore am at a loss to conjecture why he has made no re- 
ference to it in the present instance. Of course, the specific name 
given by De Candolle must be adopted. 
I have above noticed the E. triandra. This is a very curious 
plant, and departs from the character of the genus as given by Sir 
James, and by most other authors: it has but three stamina, that 
is, their number is equal to, not double that of the petals, which 
Smith makes essential to the genus. De Candolle states, with 
doubt, that they may be equal in number ; Mr. Lindley, in trans- 
lating De Candolle’s definition, very properly leaves out the mark 
of doubt; but he copies another and a very objectionable part of 
the character, when he says that there are four stigmas, and a cap- 
sule with four cells and four valves, which applies only to two out 
of the four hitherto known species. ) 
