334 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



shown expanded, hut still drooping, and in Fig. gi unopen 

 with its snake-like form. Note the chequering of the 

 colour of the flower. 



Bog Asphodel {Narthecium Ossifragum). 



In the first Latin name, derived from the Greek for 

 a rod, the long straight raceme of the Bog Asphodel 

 is indicated. Originally the name was applied to 

 another plant from which Asafoetida is obtained. The 

 second name means " breaking bones," the reason 

 for the application of which is hardly clear, though it 

 was said that it was applied from causing softening 

 of the bones of cattle, but this is due if anything to 

 the wet habitat or bog in which the plant grows. 



Bog Asphodel is found in all parts of the British 

 Isles, but, like other bog plants, chiefly in Scotland 

 and west England, the Lake District, and where the 

 rainfall is high. It is not uncommon in Ireland. 



As the English name implies the habitat of the 

 Bog Asphodel is bogs, where the soil is turfy or 

 peaty, wet moors, and other damp spots. 



Being adapted to drought of a physiological type, 

 owing to the cold soil, which lessens the rate of 

 absorption, the plant has reduced leaves, which have 

 a symmetrical internal structure, stomata both sides, 

 and with the edges turned to the light, or isobilateral. 

 The rhizome is sympodial, shortly creeping, rooting 

 below, prostrate, wiry, long, and slender. The 

 leaves are radical, grasslike, rigid, strongly ribbed, 

 with a long narrow point, not so long as the stem. 



