Volume 7 — PLATE CCCCXC.

PONTEDERIA DILATATA.

Dilated Pontederia.

CLASS VI. ORDER I.

HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Six Chives. One Pointal.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Calyx. Spatha communis, oblonga, latere dehiscens.

Corolla monopetala, 6-fida.

Stamina. Filamenta sex, corollæ inserta. Antheræ oblongæ.

Pistillum. Germen oblongum, inferum. Stylus simplex.

Pericarpium. Capsula trilocularis, triangularis.

Semina plurima.

Obs. In quibusdam speciebus germen est superum: in aliis inferum.

Empalement. Spathe common, oblong, opening sideways.

Blossom one-petalled, 6-cleft.

Chives. Threads six, inserted into the blossom. Tips oblong.

Pointal. Seed-bud oblong, beneath. Shaft simple.

Seed-vessel. Capsule three-locular, three-angled.

Seeds many.

Obs. In some species the seed-bud is above, in others beneath.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Pontederia germine supero: foliis sagittatis, obtusis, vel acutis: floribus umbellatis, confertis, cæruleis.

Habitat in India Orientali.

Pontederia with the seed-buds above: leaves arrow-shaped, obtuse, or pointed: flowers in crowded umbels, of a blue colour.

Native of the East Indies.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

This handsome aquatic is a native of the East Indies, and figured in Col. Syms’s Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava, under the title of Pontederia dilatata. On examining some plants in the hot-house of J. Vere, esq. (whence our figure was taken) we observed so much variation in them, that we are inclined to think the P. hastata of Dr. Roxburgh’s Coromandel Plants represents (from a weak plant) the same species our figure delineates.