beautifulflowers032840mbp

Plate 36] EPHBDRA HYDROCHARIS LISTBRA 155
i in. long, pink or red when ripe, edible, containing 1 or 2
hard seeds, more or less enclosed by the fleshy bracts.
Locality. Above Baltal.
Distribution. Temperate and alpine Himalaya, 7,000-
16,000 ft., Central and W. Asia, Europe.
HYDROCHARITACEAE.
(From Hydrocharis which is derived from the Greek hydor, water,
and charis, elegance, grace.)
HYDROCHARIS, Linn.
Fig. 2. Hydrocharis Morsus-ranae, Linn. Frogbit.
(Morsus means bite, and rana frog.)
A floating, herbaceous, perennial plant with only erect
flowering stems, and loaves in clusters at points where roots
strike downward and root deeply in the mud below, or it may
be floating loose, especially in deeper water. Leaves stalked,
rounded, kidney-shaped, fleshy, smooth. Flowering stems
3-4 in. high. Male and female flowers separate, produced on
the surface of the water, erect, white, large, with a yellow
patch at the base. Petals delicate, inversely egg-shaped.
Male flowers 2-3 in a stalked, 2-leafed sheath ;
stamens 6 or
9, barren stamens 6 or 3, females solitary within a sheath.
Sepals 3, herbaceous. Petals 3. Ovary egg-shaped, 6-celled.
Stigmas 6, linear, 2-fid. Fruit an egg-shaped or oblong fleshy
berry, 6-celled. Seeds many.
Frogbit does not always flower and rarely produces any seed.
Locality. Dal Lake.
Distribution. Kashmir, China, Japan, Australia, N. Asia,
Europe.
ORCHIDACEAE.
The Orchid Family.
(From the classical Greek orchis, meaning testiculus. alluding to the
shape of the tubers in some orchids.)
LISTERA,
E. Br.
(After Martin Lister, 1638 ? -
1712, physician and botanist.)
I. Leaves none.
1. Flowers yellowish brown L. kashmiriana.
2. Flowers dull yellowish green
... L. Lindleyana.
II. Leaves 2 ... ... ... ... ... L. ovata.