the fall of the anthère, .the superior ovaries much increàsed in size and somewhat pedicelled. Fig. 9. Ovary.
Fig. 10. Young capsule. Fig. 11. Spadix, showing ripe pedifcelled capsules in the superior part. Fig. 12. Drupa.
Fig. 13. Nut, natural size. Fig. 14. Side view of ditto. Fig. 15. Front view of ditto. Fig. 16. Back view
ot ditto. Fig. 17. Seed, back view of. , Fig. 18. Side view of ditto, showing its point of attachment to the cap-
. sule. Fig\ 19- Embryo, a. The cotyledon ? (radicule, R ic k .) b. The plumula! ç. The radicule.
In salt-water ditches we believe the Ruppia maritima may very generally be found ; bearing both flowers and
fruit in September, at which time the specimen here figured and described was gathered by,Mr. Turner at
Yarmouth.
The fructification is highly curious and interesting. The flowers, indeed,' both from their minuteness and situation,
are not easily to be seen, being half concealed by the sheathing base of the leaves, which thus fulfils the office
of a spatha. The anthère are very large, and remarkable both as to their shape and to the pollen which they contain
; eight of them are placed in fours, without any. true perianth to separate them ; one set on the anterior side,
occupying the upper part of the spadix, yet half embracing its circumference, and almbst meeting behind, whilst'
the other set occupies the lower part on the posterior side. In the centre of each set of anthers are placed the
four ovaries, small and resembling tubercles. The whole fructification is of one uniform, pale green colour. While
the anthers remain, the ovaries make but little progress in size; but no sooner have they performed their office
and are fallen away, than the ovaries swell into a pericarp, which becomes lengthened a t the base, and by the time
it is fully formed terminates a fruitstalk of an inch or more in length. The spadix seems equally endowed with
this curious power of elongation ; for during the flowering o f the plant I have always observed this to be very short,
but when bearing capsules to be more or less lengthened out and spirally twisted, in order that the fruit may always
be level with the surface of the water, a phænomenon which is well known to exist in a remarkable decree in
the Vallisneria spiralis.
In the structure of the seeds it is to be lamented that the three most eminent carpologists should have differed
so materially in the terms they have applied to the various parts: Gærtner calling the great, ovate, solid body,
albumen or vitellus (“ albumen nullum nisi vitellus verus”) ; which Mirbel calls cotyledon ; but Richard, with perhaps
the greatest justice, radicule. Again, the embryo of Gærtner is the plumula of Mirbel and the cotyledon
of Richard.
The two last-mentioned botanists, whose powers of dissecting and delineating seeds are unequalled by any naturalist
except Bauer, have both discovered and figured the gemmule of the future plant near the base of that body
which is here termed the plumule; and Richard in particular lias been so fortunate as to see the seeds of Ruppia
maritima in a state of vegetation, which doubtless gives them the advantage over Mirbel and Gærtner. I should
have preferred to have used his terminology both for this plant and the Zosterd (already figured), had I been
acquainted with his valuable memoir on the subject a t the time of my describing the latter plant; but having used
the terms employed by Mirbel for the Zostera, I have, to prevent confusion, continued them to this, the structure
o f whose seeds is so similar.
Those who wish for more ample information respecting the formation of the seeds o f this curious plant will find
several interesting particulars concerning it in the “Analyse du Fruit, par Monsieur Richard ,” and in the “A n nales
du Museum d 'Histoire Naturelle,” 9mc année, p . 247. t. 9 • Jigs. 42, 43, and 48. by the same author : also in
the last-mentioned work, 8"“ année, p. 445. 1. 18. by Monsieur Mirbel,. by whom also it is figured in the “ Fié:
mens de Botanique,” t. 60.