Plants with fibrous strands of old leaves at base, 6--35 cm. Leaves erect from sheath, mostly longer than scapes, 4--35 cm; sheath 1.1--7.5 cm  0.7--1 mm, ligule not hoodlike, unlobed; blade 0.2--5 mm wide, apex round-acute. Inflorescences: scape green to brown, mostly exceeded by leaves, 4.5--21.5 cm  0.3--1.6 mm; racemes 0.6--20.3  0.4--1.3 cm; pedicels 0.4--2.1  0.1--0.3 mm. Flowers: tepals oval to elliptic, 0.6--1  0.8--0.9 mm, apex obtuse; pistils 6, 3 fertile, 3 sterile. Fruits: fruiting receptacle with wings; schizocarps globose to broader than long, 1--2  1.5--2.3 mm; mericarps obovate, strongly 3-keeled, 1--1.5  0.5--0.9 mm, beak reflexed, ca. 0.2 mm. Chromosome number unavailableunknown.

Flowering summer-- and fall. Coastal alkaline marshes; 0--10 m; Ala., Calif., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., N.C., Oreg., S.C., Va.; Mexico; West Indies (Bahamas, Greater Antilles); South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Peru).

OTHER References Cronquist, A. 1981. An Integrated System of Classification of Flowering Plants. New York. Dahlgren, R. M. T., H. T. Clifford, and P. F. Yeo. 1985. The Families of Monocotyledons. Berlin. Larsen, K. 1966. Cytotaxonomical note on Lilaea. Bot. Not. 119: 496--497. Les, D. H. and R. R. Haynes. 1995. Systematics of subclass Alismatidae: A synthesis of deletions approaches. In: P. J. Rudall, et al., eds. 1995. Monocotyledons: Systematics and Evolution. 2 vols. Kew. Vol. 2, pp. 353--377. Löve, AÁ. and D. Löve. 1981. In: IOPB A. Löve. 1981. c Chromosome number reports LXXII. Taxon 30: 694--708. Tomlinson, P. B. 1982. Helobiae (Alismatidae). In: C. R. Metcalfe, ed. 1960+. Anatomy of the Monocotyledons. 8+ vols. Oxford. Vol. 7.

Habitally like no. 2 [Triglochin palustris L.]; lvs often as long as the scapes; tep and stamens each 3; ovaries 3; fr-cluster subglobose, 3 mm, the separated carpels rounded at both ends, the axis broadly 3-winged. Salt-marshes and wet coastal sands; tropical Amer., n. locally to Del. and Md.; also Old World. May-Sept.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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