A) thera preissii(fahm) Cracks. 
130 NAIDACEAE, [ Lepilaena. 
5. LEPILAENA J. Drummond, !@S3. 
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, debiscing 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  .. ! ‘ : 
; a 4 : 1. L. Preissit. 
Leaf-sheaths broad. Anthers 2 (or 1?). Stigma very large, flat, 
deeply fimbriate .. “ 3 ms + .. 2. LD, bilocularis. 
1. L. Preissii F. Muell. Fragm. Phyt. Austral. viii, 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- 
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Stems 
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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 
