MARSH LAND AND OTHER AQUATIC PLANTS 



613 



made hundreds of such experiments, 

 all with the same patient care and 

 thoroughness, describing them with 

 marvelous lucidity and point. Little 

 wonder that when his life ended Eng- 

 land found a jihice for him in West- 

 minster Al)l:)ey. 



Growing with the pickerel weed, 

 we fretiuently find another famous 

 aquatic plant, the arrow-head, a si)eci- 

 men of which is shown in one of the 

 accompanying figures ; the fertiliza- 

 tion of its flowers, too, is a story most 

 wonderful in all its details, hut it 

 would occupy too much space to give 

 m detail here. I'here is but one thing 

 to do: "Get your botany." and bring 

 your compound microscojje into i>la\ . 

 Although a thousand cannon are 

 barking away as these lines are 

 being written, we must not overlook 

 the fact that the war must come to 

 an end some day ; the far-seeing wise 

 ones will not put entirely aside scien- 

 tific research imtil it is over. When 

 the upbuilding and the uplifting 

 a "■ a i n fills the room of kill in "' 



THE KLEGAN'T SPIKE OF THE 

 I'lCKEREL WEED 

 Tliis gives the purplish-blue flowers full size, in 

 that tlieir great beauty may l>c the Ijetter appre- 

 ciated. The distal portion of a leaf of this plant 

 is shown below, with a young, sheathed spike just 

 ready to burst open. Each plant has several 

 leaves, and they sheathe the main stems as shown 

 in one of the ngures. They appear truly gorgeous 

 in the bright sunlight of summer; and they are 

 not only tjeautiful but extremely picturesque as 

 they line, in thousands, our river ^'anks at this 

 season. 



ONE OF OtiR MO.ST CONSPICUOUS 

 AQUATIC PLANTS 

 This, the common large Yellow Pond or Water 

 Eily, also called the Cow Lily or Spatter-dock 

 i.Nymphaca advcna), is another strictly aquatic 

 plant of our flora of very wide distribution. It 

 prefers the shallow shore-stretches of slow streams, 

 and less frequently extensive ponds or standing 

 trcsh water anywhere. In suitable localities it 

 may be found from Nova Scotia to the Gulf, and 

 westward to the Rockies. This species is almost 

 entirely scentless, while its beautiful relative, the 

 g eat white water lily, has a flower that is ex- 

 tremely fragrant — indeed, so much .so that it has 

 Ix-en called Castalia odorata. 



and destruction, no one of the 

 many departments of biology 

 must be utterly dead — as ha;- 

 previously happened in the 

 world's hist(jry. 



There are a good many spe- 

 cies of Sanilfariii, l)ut Ihey all 

 belong, with numerous other 

 genera, in the water plantain 

 family (. llisiuaccac). The one 

 to be described here is the 

 I'road-leaved Arrow-head (.V. 

 I.lifdlia) (see figure). It is 

 well named, for sagitta is an ar- 

 row, while the specific name re- 

 fers to its broad leaves. One of 

 its chief charms is its decora- 

 tiveness, aiul hardh- anv one can 

 pass the plaut in nature, where 

 it is growing luxuriantly, with- 

 out being struck by its peculiar 

 beauty. Its flowers are arranged 

 in groups of three, and are very 

 striking from the fact that they 

 are so glistening white. Below 

 them, also arranged in groups 



of three, we find the inconspicuous 

 jiistils, hardly entitled to be called 

 tlowers. The two sex-elements fre- 

 ipieutly occur on separate plants; but 

 this does not prevent cross-fertiliza- 

 tion through the agency of visiting 

 bees and flies, so the plant is sure of 

 perpetuation. 



One of the most remarkable things 

 about this arrow-head is the fact that 

 the pl;int frecpiently develojjs two 

 kinds of leaves — a character often to 

 be observed in other aquatic plants. 

 The broad, arrow-head sha[)ed ones 

 are grown aljove the surface of the 

 water, where they are e.xposed to the 

 air. and can assimilate from it the 

 maximum amount of carbonic acid, as 

 w ell as release the greatest amount of 

 o.xygen. These leaves are shiny and 

 more or less thick and tough ; they 

 also endure should the water dry up 

 where the plant is growing. Now 

 those below the surface of the water 

 are like long, narrow ribl)ons, so 

 formed in order that the river current 

 may not destroy or even mutilate 



THE SNOW FLAKES OF THE MARSH 

 LANDS AND RIVER BANKS 



In shallow water and muddy tracts, this, the 

 Hroad-leaved Arrow-head (.Sagitlaria latifolia) 

 flourishes, in its chosen localities, from the sub- 

 polar regions to the Rio Grande and the Mexican 

 boundary westward. As we flounder through a 

 marsh where thousands of its kind grow in 

 crowded masses, we are sure to be struck by its 

 glistening white flowers, with their brilliant golden 

 centers, as they peep out here and there among 

 the army of broad, sagittate leaves that surrountl 

 them upon all sides. 



