This section is from the book "An Illustrated Flora Of The Northern United States, Canada And The British Possessions Vol1", by Nathaniel Lord Britton, Addison Brown. Also available from Amazon: An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. 3 Volume Set..
[Lophiocarpus Miquel, Fl. Arch. Ind. 1: Part 2, 50. 1870. Not Turcz. 1843.] Perennial, bog or aquatic herbs with basal long-petioled sagittate or cordate leaves, simple erect scapes bearing flowers in several verticils or 2-3 at the summit, the lower perfect, the upper staminate. Sepals 3, distinct, persistent, erect after flowering and enclosing or enwrapping the fruit. Petals white, deciduous. Receptacle strongly convex. Stamens 9-15, hypo-gynous, inserted at the base of the receptacle. Filaments flattened. Pistils numerous; ovule solitary, erect, anatropous; style elongated, oblique, persistent. Achenes winged or crested. Embryo horseshoe-shaped. [Greek, signifying crested fruit.]
About 7 species, the following of eastern North America, the others in the Southern States, California and tropical America. Type species: Sagittaria calycina Engelm.
Leaves hastate or sagittate; plants of fresh-water ponds or marshes. | ||
Leaves with large basal lobes fully as long as the terminal one. | 1.. | L. calycinus. |
Leaves with small basal lobes shorter than the terminal lobe. | 2. | L. depauperatus. |
Leaves imperfect or obsolete, the phyllodia thick or partially flattened; plants of salt or brackish water. | ||
Phyllodia terete or nearly so, prominently nodose-septate. | 3. | L. spongiosus. |
Phyllodia flat, more or less spatulate, not prominently nodose. | 4. | L. spathulatus. |
Fig. 227
Sagittaria calycina Engelm. in Torr. Bot, Mex. Bound
Surv. 212. 1859. Lophiocarpus calycinus Micheli, in DC. Monogr. Phan. 3:
61. 1881. Lophotocarpus calycinus (Engelm.) J. G. Smith, Mem.
Torrey Club 5: 25. 1894. Lophotocarpus calycinus niaximus Robinson in A. Gray,
Man. Ed. 7, 84. 1908.
Plants mostly emersed; leaves 1/2°-2° tall, the petioles stout, the blades sagittate, hastate or lunate, 2 1/2-12' long, the basal lobes usually longer than the broad terminal lobe, usually caudate-acuminate; scapes shorter than the leaves, the inflorescence usually simple, with 2-7 whorls; sepals suborbicular to orbicular-reniform, becoming 4 1/2"-7 1/2" long; fruiting pedicels very thick, usually elongate, mostly 1 1/4"-2" long; fruit-heads 5i"-8" in diameter; achenes broadly cuneate, 1"-1 1/4" long, the beak stout, the dorsal wing thin.
In swamps, South Dakota to Delaware, Alabama, Texas and New Mexico. July-Sept.
Fig. 228
Lophotocarpus depauperatus J. G. Smith, Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 11: 148. 1890.
Plants mostly emersed; leaves 1/2°-1° tall, the petioles relatively slender, the blades oblong, elliptic, sagittate or hastate, 3/4'- 1 1/2' long, including the basal lobes which are usually more or less spreading; scapes about one-half as long as the leaves, mostly with 1 or 2 whorls; sepals suborbicular, becoming 3"-3 1/2" long; fruit-bearing pedicels rather stout, 1/3'-1 1/4' long; fruit-heads 3V-4" in diameter; achenes cuneate, fully 1" long, or rarely shorter, the beak slender, the dorsal wing thin.
On margins of ponds, Wisconsin to Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma. June-Sept.
Fig. 229
Sagittaria calycina spongiosa Engelm. in A. Gray,
Man. Ed. 5, 493. 1867. Lophotocarpus spongiosus (Engelm.) J. G. Smith,
Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 11: 148. 1899.
Plants submerged; leaves 1/3°- 2/3° tall, the petioles stout and spongy, conspicuously nodose-septate, the blades spatulate, oblong, elliptic, sagittate or hastate, 1/3'-1 1/4' long, the basal lobes, when present, more or less falcate; scapes about one-half as long as the leaves or less, the inflorescence simple, with one or two whorls; sepals broadly ovate or orbicular-ovate, becoming 5"-6" long; fruiting pedicels very stout, 1/3'-3/4' long, or rarely longer; fruit-heads 3 1/2"-5" in diameter; achenes cuneate, i"-i 1/4" long, the beak short, at the top of the achene-body, the dorsal wing thin.
On margins of brackish ponds and tide-water marshes, New Brunswick to Virginia. July-Aug.
Fig. 230
Lophotocarpus spathulatus J. G. Smith, Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 11: 149. 1899.
Plants aquatic; leaves less than 4' tall, the petioles stout, not conspicuously septate, the blades linear or spatulate dilations at the top of the petioles, or wanting; scape shorter than the leaves, stout but weak, the inflorescence with but one whorl; sepals ovate to orbicular-ovate, becoming 1 1/2" long; fruiting pedicels stout, about 5" long or less; fruit-heads 2V-3" in diameter; achens cuneate, 3/4"-1" long, the beak much below the top of the achene-body, the narrow dorsal wing thin.
On sandy beaches above salt-water, New-buryport, Massachusetts. July-Sept.
 
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