TAPE-GRASS FAMILY 



" When the staminate flower-buds are ready to burst 

 the cone-shaped cluster breaks from its moorings 

 and rises to the surface. Here in the sunshine the 

 flowers expand, the anthers open, and the pollen is 

 shed. About the same time the stalk of the pistillate 

 flower grows much longer and straightens itself. The 

 flower is now, as it were, tethered by a long line and 

 sways over a large circuit at the impulse of the wind, 

 or the rippling waves. Soon it comes in contact with 

 the scattered pollen and receives upon its stigma some 

 of the pollen grains." 



After pollination is accomplished the long stem 

 coils itself up and so draws the fertilized flower-head 

 down into the cool depths of the water and there the 

 fruit is matured. 



Rowing upon the inland lakes of the north in August 

 one often sees near the shore numbers of the small 

 white blossoms, consisting of a slender ovary about an 

 inch long crowned with a white corolla of three petals. 

 The stem is long and yielding and the blossoms come 

 and go and sway and yield with the wave of the wind 

 or the passing boat, but always just awash. Sur- 

 rounding them is a gathering of white specks at times 

 so abundant as to suggest the tiny bubbles of a spent 

 wave. Under a lens each white speck resolves itself 

 into two tiny stamens laden with pollen in a three- 

 pointed boat seeking their destiny on an unknown 

 sea. 



Because of the tendency of Eel-Grass to wrap 

 itself about oar, rudder, or propeller, the plant is 

 anathema to all boatmen on shallow waters. 



This is the Wild Celery of Chesapeake Bay and a 

 favorite food of the canvasback duck. 



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