Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/785

Lemna.] 

Fronds proliferous from the sides near the base, with one or several delicate root-fibres descending from the under-surface. Flowers in marginal clefts of the fronds. Filaments slender; anthers didymous, 2-celled; pollen globose, muricate. Ovary with 1–7 ovules. Fruit a 1–7-seeded utricle. Seeds erect or horizontal; embryo conic or ovoid.

1. L. minor, ''Linn. Sp. Plant.'' 970.—Root solitary, the sheath at its base without appendages. Frond symmetrical, ⅛–¼ in. long, ovate or oblong, nearly flat on both surfaces, green above, paler beneath; young ones growing from one side but soon becoming disconnected. Spathe unequally 2-lipped. Stamens 2, appearing successively (each a distinct male flower). Style rather long. Seed horizontal, hemi-anatropal, albuminous.—''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 239; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 278; Benth. Fl. Austral.'' vii. 163; ''Hegelm. Lemn.'' 141, t. 9, 10.

2. L. gibba, ''Linn. Sp. Plant.'' 970.—Root solitary, the sheath at its base elongate, cylindric, rootcap acute. Frond symmetrical, ¼–⅓ in. long, thick and spongy, flat above, convex beneath; young ones growing from one side, but soon separating. Spathe sac-like. Stamens 2. Ovules 2 or more. Utricle bursting transversely. Seeds erect, anatropous; albumen scanty or wanting.—''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 239; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 278; Benth. Fl. Austral.'' vii. 163; ''Hegelm. Lemn.'' 145, t. 11–13.





Submerged or floating fresh-water or marine aquatic plants, or marsh herbs. Stems often elongated, slender, branched, jointed; sometimes short and almost wanting. Leaves very various, altogether submerged and translucent, or floating and opaque, or all radical, sheathing at the base; stipules wanting or interpetiolar,