PLATE CCCCXC.
P O N T E D E R I A DILATATA.
Dilated Pontederia.
UK
CLASS VI. ORDER L
HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Six Chives. One Pointai.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
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CALYX. Spatha communis, oblonga, latere dehiscens.
COROLLA monopetala, 6-fìda.
STAMINA. Filamenta sex, coi-olise inserta. Antherae
oblongae.
PISTILLUM. Germen oblongum, inferum.
Stylus simplex.
PERICAEPIUM. 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, threeangled.
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, coeruleis.
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.
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REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A blossom spread open.
2. Seed-bud and pointal, summit magnified.
3. The plant in miniature.
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THIS handsome aquatic is a native of the East Indies, and figured in Col. Syms'a 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 Cororaandel Plants represents (from a weak plant)
the same species our figure delineates.