BUTOMUS*. Linnean Class and Order. ENNEA'NDRIA †, Hexagy'nia. Natural Order. BUTO'MEE, Richard.-Lindl. Syn. p. 271.; Introd. to Nat. Syst. of Bot. p. 253.--ALISMA'CEE, Section BuTO'MEE. Rich. by Macgillv. pp. 399 & 400. GEN. CHAR. Calyx none. Corolla (Perianth of Hook. see p. 33.) of six egg-shaped concave petals, the three outer of which are the smallest, and most pointed. Filaments nine, awl-shaped, shorter than the corolla, six in the outer row, three in the inner. Anthers oblong, of two cells, each opening lengthwise, by two valves, the whole subsequently contracted into a heart-shaped figure. Germens six, oblong, the point of each elongated into a vertical style, with an abrupt stigma. Capsules six, oblong, taper-pointed, upright, each of one cell, and one valve, bursting at the inner margin. Seeds numerous, oblong, cylindrical, obtuse at both ends.-Distinguished from all other genera by the nine stamens, and six, manyseeded, capsules. One species British. BU'TOMUS UMBELLA'TUS. Flowering Rush. Water Gla diole. SPEC. CHAR. Leaves narrow, strap-shaped, pointed, three edged; Spatha (sheath) of three leaves. Eng. Bot. t. 651.-Curt. Fl. Lond. t. 29.-Sm. Fl. Brit. v. i. p. 436.—Eng. Fl. v. ii. p. 245.-With. (7th ed.) v. ii. p. 515.-Lind. Syn. p. 272.-Hook. Br. Fl. p. 185.-Sibth. Fl. Oxon. p. 134.-Abb. Fl. Bedf. p. 91.-Purt. Midl. Fl. v. i. p. 204. v. iii. p. 357.- Relh. Fl. Cantab. (3rd ed.) p. 168.-Lightfoot's Fl. Scot. v. i. p. 211.-Hook. Fl. Scot. p. 123.-Grev. Fl. Edin. p.92.-Rev. G. E. Smith's Plants of S. Kent, p. 25.-Mackay's Catalogue of the Plants of Ireland, p. 38.-Walk. Fl. of Oxf. p. 117.-Butomus, Ray's Syn. p. 273.-Gladiolus palustris cordi, Johnson's Gerarde, p. 29. LOCALITIES.-On the margins of rivers, and in ponds and ditches.-On the banks of the Isis, and the Cherwell, and in watery ditches in the neighbourhood of Oxford, plentiful.-Common about the Avon, and the Swifts, near Rugby, in Warwickshire, especially near the bridge and the new aqueducts going from thence to Newbold and Brownsover. 1831. W. B.-In the rivers Avon, Arrow, and Alne, in many places near Alcester, Warwickshire. Mr. PURTON, in Mid. Fl.-Priory Pools, and in the Avon, near Warwick. Mr. PERRY, in With. Bot. Arr.--River Blythe, near Coleshill; and about Stafford and Tamworth. Dr. WITHERING, ibid.--Skerne, near Darlington. Mr. ROBSON, ibid.-Side of the river Avon, at Evesham. Mr. BALLARD, ibid.-About Bungay. Mr. WOODWARD, ibid.-In ditches between Ince and the sea, north of Liverpool. Mr. SHEPHERD, ibid.-Mere, near Scarborough. Mr. TRAVIS, ibid.-About White Cliff, and Durmeston, near Blandford. Dr. PULTENEY, ibid.-Bushy Park, Middlesex. Mr. WINCH, ibid.-Paper-Mills, Chesterton. Granchester. Teversham Moor. River Cam. Isle of Ely, &c. Rev. R. RELHAN, in Fl. Cantab. Fig. 1. The 9 Stamens and 6 Pistils.-Fig. 2. A single Stamen.-Fig. 3. A single Pistil.-Fig. 4. One of the three inner Petals.-Fig. 5. One of the three outer ditto. These three outer petals are described by some authors as a coloured calyx, and are called sepals.-Fig. 6. The 6 Capsules. From Bous, Gr. an Ox, and tomos, Gr. sharp, because the sharp leaves injure the mouths of cattle that browze upon them. The ninth Class of the Artificial System of LINNEUS, containing those plants which have 9 distinct stamens, of which Butomus is the only British example. Between Stourport Bridge and the Lickhill, Worcestershire. Mrs. GARDNER, in Purt. Mid. Fl.-In the Marshes near the banks of the Severn, about Framilode, Gloucestershire. G. W.SANDYS, Esq. Pembroke College.-Near Deptford, and the Marshes by Blackwall, in great abundance, although very scarce in many other parts of Great Britain. Mr. CURTIS, in Fl. Lond.-In wide ditches between Battersea Bridge and Vauxhall. Mr. W. PAMPLIN, jun.— Plastow Marshes, banks of the Thames. J. BARTLETT, Esq.-Dykes near the Sea, south of Lydd. Near Sandwich, Kent. Rev. G. E. SMITH.-In the Peat Pits, near Newbury, Berks. Dr. NOEHEDEN, and Mr. BICHENO, in Dr. Mavor's Survey of Berkshire, p. 248.-In Buckinghamshire, on the banks of the Thames. Mr. P. B. AYRES. About Bath. C. C. BABINGTON, in Mag. of Nat. Hist. v. i. p. 392.-Grooby Pool, near Leicester. Rev. A. BLOXAM, in Mag. Nat. Hist. v. iii. p. 167.-In the Chelmer, near Chelmsford, Essex. J. G. in Mag. Nat. Hist. v. iv. p. 447.-In Cors ddygai, Anglesea. Welsh Bot.-Duddingston Lock, Scotland. Mr. J. MACKAY, in Hook. Fl. Scot.-Lock of Clunie. Rev. Mr. M'RITCHIE, ibid.-Ditches near the Grand Canal, county of Kildare. Banks of the Shannon at Castle-Connel, near Limerick. Near D'Esterre's Bridge, and near Corrofin, in great abundance. Mr. J. T. MACKAY, in Catal. of Plants of Ireland. Perennial.-Flowers in June, July, and August. Root white, tuherous, horizontal, and sending down a great number of long fibres from the underside. Whole herb smooth, and very cellular. Leaves all radical (growing immediately from the root), upright, narrow, quite entire, 3-sided, pointed, and more or less spirally twisted at the extremity, 2 or 3 feet high. Stalk solitary, taller than the leaves, round, very smooth, and terminating in a large umbel of beautiful rose-coloured flowers. Flower-stalks thread-shaped, unequal, about 4 inches long, with spear-shaped, brownish bracteas at their base, and a general three-leaved, membranous spatha or involucre beneath them. This is a stately and beautiful aquatic, and the only plant of the class ENNEA'NDRIA that grows wild in the British Isles. It is well adapted for ornamenting the margins of fish-ponds, and other pieces of water. "The Water-Gladiole, or Grassie Rush," says Gerarde," is, of all others, the fairest and most pleasant to behold, and serveth very well for the decking and trimming up of houses, because of the beautie and braverie thereof."-The corolla varies in different shades of red, or purple mixed with white: and is sometimes entirely white. The stem at bottom, and the flower-stalks at top, are often tinged with red. The number 3 is evidently predominent in the fructification: the corolla being doubly tripetalous; the stamens thrice three; the pistils six; the capsules six, in a hexagon form; and the involucre three-leaved. See Miller's Gard. Dict. by Martyn. The following CHARACTER of the Natural Order BUTO'MEE to which our present plant belongs, is given by PROFESSOR LINDLEY, in his " Synopsis of the British Flora;" a work which no student of British Botany ought to be without." Sepals 3, herbaceous. Petals 3, coloured, petaloid. Stamens definite or indefinite. hypogynous (inserted beneath the Germen). Ovaries (Germens) superior, 3, 6, or more, either distinct or united into a single mass. Stigmas, the same number as the Ovaries, simple. Follicles (Capsules) manyseeded, either distinct and rostrate, or united in a single mass. Seeds minute, very numerous, attached to the whole of the inner surface of the fruit: Albumen none: Embryo with the same direction as the seed.-Aquatic plants. Leaves very vascular, often yielding a milky juice, with parallel veins. Flowers in umbels, conspicuous, purple, or yellow."-The only Genera in this order are, BUTOMUS, LIMNOCHARIS, and HYDROCLEYS: the two last are not British. |