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POTAMOGETON pufillum.
Small Pond-weed.
T E T R A N D R I A Tetragynia.
G e n . C h a r . Cal. none. Petals 4. Style none. Seeds 4 .
S p e c . C h a r . Leaves linear, oppofice and alternate,
diftindt, fpreading from the bafe. Stem cylindrical.
S y n . Potamogeton pufillum. Linn. Sp. PI. 18 4 .
Hudf. FI. An. 7 7 . With. Bot.A rr. 1 7 6 . Relh.
Cant. 73 . Sibth. Oxon. 66.
P. pufillum, gramineo folio, caule. tereti. Rail
Synt i _§q .
N O T very uncommon in ponds and ditches throughout
England. The root has all the appearance of being perennial
(though Linnaeus marks it as annual), and feveral fibres are
thrown out from the lower part of the ftem, which is round,
very flender, and alternately branched above. Leaves linear,
very narrow, moftly alternate, but oppofite under every flower-
ftalk, feffile, fpreading from the very bafe, and not Iheathing
the ftem, their margin perfectly fmooth and entire. $tipulae
membranous, lanceolate, inferted above each leaf, and embracing
the ftem. Flower-ftalks axillary, frequently terminal till the
ftem ftioots beyond them, fhorter than the leaves, each bearing
a fpike of 3 or 4 greenilh flowers in the middle of fummer.
The able authors of the Bot. Arrangement have in this inftancc
not tranflated the fpecific charadter of Linnaeus with their
ufual accuracy. Neither do we conceive the fcales mentioned
in Dr. Withering’s defcription to be braElete, or belonging to
the flower-ftalks; it is evident, from an infpedtion of the plant,
they are real Jlipula intrafoliacea.