Monochoria
(from monos, one, and chorizo, to separate; the anterior stamen is different from the remaining five). ORD. Pontederiaceae. A genus comprising about half-a-dozen species of stove aquatic herbs, inhabiting the East Indies, China, Japan, the Malayan Archipelago, and tropical Australia and Africa. Perianth campanulate, with distinct segments; tube none; racemes sometimes sheathed with the cauline leaves, very short, with the flowers numerous, rather long-stalked, fascicle-formed; pedicels very short; spathe complicated, at the base of the raceme or in the sheath at the base of the peduncle. Radical leaves long, cauline ones shorter, petiolate; blade sagittate, cordate-ovate, or lanceolate. The species here described are probably the only ones yet introduced. For culture, see Pontederia.
M. hastata (spear-shaped). fl. blue, in crowded umbels; perianth six-cleft; spathe oblong, opening sideways. July. l. arrow-shaped, obtuse or pointed. h. 2ft. East Indies, 1806. (A. B. R. 490, under name of Pontederia dilatata.) M. vaginalis (sheathed). fl. blue, mostly rufous outside; spike distant-flowered, sometimes sub-campanulate; pedicels longer than the flowers. Summer. l. long-stalked, mostly cordate or cordate-ovate, more or less distinctly acuminate. h. 2ft. Eastern Asia, &c.
M. v. Korsakowii (Korsakow's). fl. violet, large, scarcely rufous outside; inflorescence paniculate or sub-paniculate, few-flowered. Summer. l. variable, usually very broadly rotundate-cordate. h. 1ft. or more. A showy plant. (R. G. 1862, 374.) MONOCOTYLEDONS, or ENDOGENS. One of the two great classes into which all flowering plants are divided. They may be characterised as follows : Stem with the wood forming longitudinal bundles, irregularly disposed, not in concentric layers, and having no defined central pith. Leaves with usually parallel veins; exceptions to this character are not uncommon amongst Aroideoe, Dioscoreoe, and Liliaceoe. Flowers with the organs mostly in threes or fours, never in fives; in grasses, the parts are arranged in twos and threes. Embryo with a single cotyledon; first-formed leaves alternate; radicle not branching, but throwing out adventitious roots.