Thalassia (thalasia)

[NL. (Solander, 1806), so called from their habitat; σια, fem. of θαλάσσιος, of the sea, sea.] A genus of plants, of the order Hydro charideæ, type of the tribe Thala icæ. It is characterized by unisexual two-leaved one-flowered slightly tubular spathes, the long-pedicel led male flower with three ovate petaloid segments and six long erect anthers, the female at first nearly se ile and with a long-beaked ovary which matures into a globose roughened fruit dehiscent into many ascending or stellate lobes. The two species are plants growing submerged in the sea, with long thong-like leaves from an elongated creeping rootstock; T. testudinum, of the West Indies, known as turtle - gra and manatu - gra , is a gregarious rosulate plant of the sea-bottom, with linear leaves about a foot in length. thala ian (thā-las'i-an), n. [ [ θάλασσα , the The commercial situation of the trading towns of North Germany, admirable so long as the trade of the world was are of burrowing habits. They are commonly known as scorpion lobsters.