Lepilaena J.Drumm. ex Harv.
Type sp.: L. australis Drum. ex Harv. in Hook. J. Bot. 7, 1855, 58, from Australia.
Dioec. Fls solitary, shortly pedicellate. ♂ with per. of 3 minute, membr. segs; stamen single or 3 connate by their connectives; pollen spherical. ♀ with per. of 3 membr. segs about as long as ovary plus style; carpels us. 3, shortly stipitate; ovary oval; style short; stigma cylindric to funnelform. Fr. ± cylindric. Rhizome threadlike, rooting at nodes and giving off slender lfy branches. Lvs alt.; internodes, except near infl., at least as long as sheathing base; lf-base pale, broader than lamina, with short, colourless auricles. 4 spp. of fresh to slightly brackish water, all confined to Australia except that 1 extends to N.Z.
The Australian L. preissii was recorded from the Waikato by Kirk (T.N.Z.I. 10, 1878, App. xl), the determination being Mueller's, but Kirk's specimens show that the plant so named was Zannichellia palustris.
