614 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



DNK (M'- TliF. MOST C.I.OKIOl'S FLOWERS IN ALL NATURE 

 The L*ond Lily or Sweet-scented Water Lily iCastalia odorata) is known to nearly everyone, not only throuKliout America but in the Old World. 

 It blooms all summer long in many localities, being a plant confined to ponds, lakes, and sometimes to rivers without a perceptible current. The 

 picture here given is from a steel engraving of one of the late Dr. Robert Collett's superb series, copied from one of his remarkable photographs 

 made in Norway, where this plant is also found. 



tlicin, wliifli it would ho lilsfly to <lo were they like the 

 ones ahove the surface. These lonj;-, delicate, suha(|uatic 

 leaves arc also exposed to the air contained in the water, 

 and so pcrl'onii a similar function with respect to giving 

 off carbonic acid and the abs(n-i)tion of o.^ygen. When 

 the water dries up, as often liappens during long, dry 

 siinmiers, these latter leaves shrivel up and entirely dis- 

 appear. In fact, such ])laiits must be amphibious al- 

 though stationary, and be able to breathe as an aquatic 

 plant as well as a terrestrial one. Wonderful indeed are 

 the results that have come about since the time plants 

 first appeared on this planet, and similar marvelous 

 changes are still in progress upon every hand. To un- 

 derstand most of these we must needs study — industri- 

 ously and intelligently — all the thousands U])on thou- 

 sands of fossil i)lants that science has collected and cl;is- 

 sified. 



Writing about the arrow-head, Alice Lounsberry 

 quaintly remarks : "The demure arrow-heads are surely 

 the Ouakers of the flower-world ; and that they do nor 



condone fri\()lit\', we mav gather from the wa\' in wlii;:!i 

 they kee]) their pistillate and staniinate members apart. 

 The ]jistillatc ones also deck themselves in very seemly 

 little petals that l.ill cirlx- .■iiid do not vie in comeliness 

 with those of the staniinate blossoms, it hardly seems 

 possible that one of tliese little undcr-flowers would ever 

 have the courage to call out boldly: 'Joseph, thou art 

 keeping the sunshine from falling upon my head.' " 



.\\\ through tlie ("lulf .States is a fine region in which 

 to study aquatic ]ll.■lllt^. In the country about New Or- 

 leans, some of the big, stagnant ponds are good jilaces in 

 which to study the lilies, the wonderful growth of grasses 

 and sedges, and plants that flourish in wet places gener- 

 ally. As one passes from pond to pond in the summer 

 time, remarkable flowers lu.iy be collected, and no end 

 of interesting animal forms observed. Among the lat- 

 ter we may note thousands of specimens of the big, black 

 lubber grasshopper, of which insect a reproduction of a 

 [photograph is here presented. As throughout all the 

 eastern part of the United States and westward, we meet. 



