Florida Keys Sea Grass

Halophila baillonis Aschers. Jour. Linn. Soc. 14 : 317. 1874
The horizontal stem or rhizome slender, filiform, its intern odes 1-5 cm. long ; scales two and two at the nodes, the lower horizontal, embracing the stem, the upper erect and enclosing the upright branches, obovate or cuneate, pubescent, hyaline ; erect branches very short, 1-3 mm. long, bearing 2 leaves and sometimes a secondary horizontal stem; leaves slender-petioled ; petioles 5-10 mm. long ; blades very thin, hispidulous on both sides, oblong or elliptic, 1-3 cm. long, 3-8 mm. wide, acute at the base, obtuse at the apex, with a prominent midrib, two fainter lateral ribs, and about 6 pairs of transverse veins ; flower-clusters usually of one lateral pistillate flower and one terminal staminate one in the axils of the leaves • bracts hyaline, ovate ; staminate flower pedicelled ; sepals 3, oval,
obtuse ; anthers 3, subsessile, oblong, alternate, with the sepals, 2 -celled, extrorse ; pistillate flowers sessile ; hypanthium lanceolate flask-shaped ; sepals 3, minute, resembling small papillae ; stigmas 3, sessile, filiform, with 2 rows of papillae ; capsule about 5 mm. long ; seeds about 20.
Type locality : Martinique.
Distribution : On the bottoms of bays, from Martinique to St. Thomas, Porto Rico, and Jamaica.

Halophila aschersonii Osterjf. Bot. Tidsskr. 24 : 239. 1902
Horizontal stem or rhizome creeping, slender, its internodes 1-3 cm. long; scales in pairs at the nodes, lanceolate, the lower horizontal, the upper erect, pubescent; erect shoots 1-4 cm. long, bearing 1 pair of obovate scales at the middle, in the axils of which often arise secondary rhizomes, and 2 pairs of leaves at the summit ; leaves distinctly petioled ; petioles 3-5 mm. long ; leaf-blades elliptic, 8-20 mm. long, 4-8 mm. wide, obtuse at both ends, hispidulous, densely spinulose-serrate on the margins, 3-ribbed, with 3-5 pairs of transverse veins, thin ; pistillate flowers sessile in the axils of the upper pairs of leaves, surrounded by two lanceolate acute bracts; hypanthium flask-shaped; body ovoid, 2 mm. long; tube slender, about 5 mm. long* sepals minute; stigmas 2 or 3, 15-30 mm. long; staminate flowers unknown.
Type locality: St. Croix, West Indies.
Distribution : Muddy bottoms of bays at a depth of about 1 m., Danish West Indies, Porto Rico, and Jamaica.