72 



Tradescantia Discolor. Rafin. (wandering jew.) Thick, 

 short, fleshy, trailing stems, leaves purple banded with yel- 

 lowish-white, semi-oval, pointed. This is a garden plant but I 

 found two specimens by the roadside at Point Finger, and a 

 third specimen on the road to Spanish Point — evidently es- 

 capes. 



Natural Order, Pontederiaceae. 



Pontederia Azurea. — Eichorina Crassipes. (water h3'acinth.) 

 Abundant in Pembroke marsh channels, where it was intro- 

 duced within the last few years, and has rapidly spread but at 

 present is confined to that locality. The flower is in heads 

 like a hyacinth, of a delicate lilac colour, and very beautiful. 

 It grows with a peculiar bladder-shaped stem, which acts as a 

 float to keep the plant above water, without its roots being 

 attached to the bottom. The leaves are long, broad and lily- 

 shaped with runners slanting from the crown of leaves just 

 beneath the water. These intertwine and connect in long 

 masses in the form of floating islands which have given such 

 an obstruction in the navigable waters of Florida as to cause 

 Congress to have an examination made to devise some means 

 of putting a limit to its growth. It is said to be native of Ven- 

 ezuela and was intsoduced North as an ornamental plant grown 

 in tubs. It spreads very rapidly. Its propogation without 

 restriction threatens the navigation of the waters it has encro- 

 ached upon. 



Natural Order, Juncaceae. 



Juncus Tenuis. Willd. (common rush ) Stem slender, 

 erect, wiry, pithy, eight to eighteen inches long, leafy, only 

 at base. Leaves very narrow nearly as long as stem. Flowers 

 single, distant, along one side borne on the branched divisions 

 of the angle of the leaf, and upper part of the stem; greenish- 

 brown, in tufts. Marsh lands and marshes. Perennial. 

 Common. 



Natural Order Aroideae. 



Scirpus Validus. Vahl. or S. Lacastris. Linn, (bull rush, 

 club rush. ) Stem stout, erect, leafless, cylindrical, four to six 



