fl) Then preassi (doh) Graery. 
130 NAIDACEAR, [ Lepilaena. 
5. LEPILAENA J. Drummond, '®S3S. 
Very slender submerged water-plants ; stems filiform, branched. Leaves 
alternate or the floral ones opposite, filiform, sheathing at the base; 
sheaths broad, stipular. Flowers minute, axillary, dioecious or rarely 
monoecious, solitary within the dilated sheathing bases of a pair of floral 
leaves. Male flowers shortly pedicelled. Perianth very minute, of 3 
hyaline scales. Anthers 2 or 3, united by their backs and forming a solid 
column resembling a single anther; each anther 2-celled, dehiscing longi- 
tudinally. Female flowers sessile or shortly pedicellate. Perianth of 3 
hyaline segments longer or shorter than the carpels. Carpels 3, distinct, 
sessile or shortly stipitate, narrowed into a short or long style; stigma 
oblong or spathulate; ovule solitary, pendulous. Ripe carpels usually 3, 
oblong, coriaceous, indehiscent, tipped by the persistent=style. Seed oblong ; 
testa membranous ;.. embryo with a thick obtuse radicle and tapering 
involute cotyledonary end. 
A small genus of 4 species, 3 of which are Australian, one of them said to extend 
to New Zealand; the remaining one is endemic in New Zealand. In Engler’s 
‘‘Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien ’’ the genus is merged with the Mediterranean Althenia. 
Leaf-sheaths narrow. Anthers 3, connate into a column. Stigma 
oblong-clavate  .. : : . 
; iw aw 1. L. Preissit. 
Leaf-sheaths broad. Anthers 2 (or 1?). Stigma very large, flat, 
deeply fimbriate .. ae a v o .. 2. LD. bilocularis. 
1. L. Preissii F. Muell. Fragm. Phyt. Austral. vii, 217.—Stems 6-18 in. 
long, very slender, filiform, branched, often forming dense masses. Leaves 
filiform or almost capillary ; sheathing bases very narrow. Flowers dioecious ; 
males solitary within the leaf-sheaths, shortly pedicelled. Perianth minute, 
cupular. Anthers 3, sessile within the perianth, connate by their backs 
into a columnar mass, each one 2-celled, cells dehiscing longitudinally. 
Female flowers solitary, shortly pedicelled. Perianth of 3 distinct seg- 
ments, rather longer than the carpels. Carpels 3, narrowed into a rather 
long style; stigma oblong-clavate. Ripe carpels cylindrical, sessile or 
nearly so, about 4in. long—Benth. Fl. Austral. vii (1878) 180; T. Krk 
in Trans. N.Z. Inst. x (1878) App. 40, and xxviii (1896) 499; Cheesem. 
Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 753. Zannichellia Preissii Lehm. in Plant. Preass, 
ui (1846-48) 3. 
Norra Isuanp: Auckland—Waikato River, near Churchill, 7’. Kirk. 
I have seen no New Zealand specimens of this, but according to Mr. Kirk examples 
collected by him in the locality quoted above were submitted to the late Baron 
Mueller and by him identified with the Australian L. Preissii. It greatly resembles 
eee palustris, and in the absence of male flowers may have been mistaken 
or it. 
as. epee Gays 4. b2esS)301. 
2. L. bilocularis 7. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst.~xxviii (1896) 500.— 
Stems filiform, much branched, 3-12in. long. Leaves very narrow-linear 
or filiform, flat, l-nerved, obtuse; base broad, expanded into a mem- 
branous sheath. Flowers very minute, solitary, dioecious, concealed in 
the leaf-sheaths. In the male plant the sheathing bases of the floral 
leaves are broad and much expanded, and conspicuously 2-lobed at the 
tip. Flowers very shortly pedicelled. Perianth of 3 most minute hyaline 
scales. Anthers apparently 2, cohering by their backs and resembling a 
single anther, each 2-celled, longitudinally dehiscent, connective produced. 
Floral leaves subtending the female flowers with narrower sheaths ; flowers 
